Movie Oubliette

Cool World (with Melinda Mock)

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 23:00:00 GMT

RetroBlasting's Melinda Mock stands in for Dan as animation auteur Ralph Bakshi's Cool World (1992) bursts out of the oubliette and threatens to overwhelm us with its incoherent plot and haphazard melange of visuals. Starring a post Batman Kim Basinger as femme fatale Holli Would, Gabriel Byrne as murderous cartoonist Jack, and a very young Brad Pitt as by-the-book Cool World detective, Frank, Cool World is a very 90s live action/animation crossover with a remarkable soundtrack.

Tonally the film tries on noir, erotica, satire and straight-up fever dreams, and then leaves the dressing room without checking the mirror. It’s flashy but confused, but never dull. But does it deserve to be pricked by the spike of power and be released from oubliette, or should it be sucked back into the author's pen and forgotten forever? Find out!

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Cure

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 23:00:00 GMT

In this Patrons' choice episode, we're exposing ourselves to Cure (1997) – the film that announced Kiyoshi Kurosawa as one of the most unsettling voices in modern horror. Set in Tokyo at the tail end of Japan's "lost decade", it follows weary detective Takabe (Kōji Yakusho) as he investigates a string of seemingly connected string of murders... with apparently different perpetrators. Victims keep turning up with the same grotesque X carved into their necks, and the killers – usually found standing nearby in a daze –have absolutely no idea why they did it. Just when things seem bleak enough, Takabe encounters a mysterious drifter, Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara) – a soft-spoken young man who asks everyone the same simple question: Who are you? Should this early progenitor of the "J-horror" phenomenon be released from the oubliette… or would it be safer if we all forgot we ever saw it? Find out!

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Hardware

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Released in 1990, Hardware is the abrasive feature debut of cult filmmaker Richard Stanley. Starring Stacey Travis as sculptor Jill and Dylan McDermott as desert drifter Mo, the film begins with a romantic gesture that – through the entirely avoidable gift of salvaged military hardware – turns into a claustrophobic battle with a self-repairing government robot determined to follow its programming to the letter. Emerging at the tail end of the VHS-era cyberpunk boom and somewhere in the industrial-grime lineage between The Terminator and Mad Max 2, Stanley’s film quickly carved out a reputation as a cult object: equal parts grimy dystopian satire and mechanical slasher movie. But is this often hard-to-find rusty curio a gem that deserves to be given pride of place in your lounge, or is it best left in the desert? Find out!

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The Bride (1985)

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

By popular demand, we're celebrating the release of Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! by taking a look back at Franc Roddam's The Bride (1985). This mid-80s take on Mary Shelley’s mythic creation project tellingly got the budget of a period romance, but likely only because it had a new romantic pop star in the lead role and the production design of an Adam Ant music video. The result is a Gothic fable where baroque laboratories collide with heartfelt journeys toward independence. The monster – dubbed Viktor by his diminutive travelling companion, Rinaldo (David Rappaport) – is played by Clancy Brown, presumably because he strayed from casting sessions for Highlander.

Flashdance's Jennifer Beals’ Eva reinvents the notion of “the bride”: she’s bright, terrified of cats, and slightly too lucid for a world full of overlong candlelit discussions about autonomy and creation. Sting’s Baron Frankenstein embodies euro-aristocratic obsession with a bemused smirk, and spends most of his time leaning on something while holding a book.

Should this experiment in misunderstood Gothic romance finally earn its freedom? Or is it a well-dressed atrocity that should be hurled off the nearest tower? Find out!

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Monster in the Closet (with Octavio López Sanjuán)

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Writer Octavio López Sanjuán joins us as we discover Monster in the Closet (1986), an affectionate pastiche of atomic age monster movies from Troma Entertainment. A string of baffling murders in wardrobes draws a plucky San Francisco obituary writer (Donald Grant) into the most terrifying assignment of his career. He’s soon joined by a biology teacher (Denise DuBarry) with more theories than common sense, her boy genius child (an early appearance from Paul Fast and Furious Walker!), and an assortment of moustachioed authorities who all take turns trying (and spectacularly failing) to make sense of a creature that would put even your most irrational childhood fears to shame. Should Monster in the Closet be released to let its freak flag fly, or should it be crammed back in there to wallow in its shame? Find out!

You can buy Octavio's Spanish-language book on Monster in the Closet on Amazon!

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Don't Torture a Duckling

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Our second film for this year will also be our second dip of the toe into the filmography of Lucio Fulci (see episode 158 for our take on Conquest, his bonkers fantasy adventure, with our special guest Vincenzo Natali).

Don’t Torture a Duckling (Non si sevizia un paperino, 1972) is remembered as one of the most unsettling and thematically ambitious entries in the Italian giallo cycle. Its premise is deceptively simple: a series of brutal child murders shatters a seemingly idyllic community, prompting an investigation led by journalist Andrea Martelli (Tomas Milian) and local police. Suspicion falls quickly – and tellingly – on society’s outsiders: a reclusive “witch” (Florinda Bolkan), a mentally vulnerable man, and anyone who doesn't conform to the village’s rigid moral order. As the mystery unfolds, the film reveals a gallery of compromised adults whose piety and respectability mask repression, misogyny, and latent violence.

Should Don’t Torture a Duckling be released from the oubliette and re-examined like an uncomfortable truth finally brought to light, or left buried with Maciara's baby? Find out!

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Biggles: Adventures in Time (with Michael French)

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Happy New Year! Michael French of RetroBlasting joins us for an exciting trip with Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986), directed by John Hough (of Watcher in the Woods and The Legend of Hell House fame). It's an ambitious and eccentric British fantasy-adventure that attempts to translate W. E. Johns’ imperial-era aviation hero into the idiom of 1980s blockbuster cinema. Produced by Rusty Lemorande (writer of Electric Dreams), the film has since acquired a reputation less as a failed franchise-starter than as a cult curiosity. It stars Alex Hyde-White as a contemporary New Yorker, Jim, who is randomly pulled back in time to the Western Front of the First World War, where he becomes entangled with the dashing Royal Flying Corps ace James "Biggles" Bigglesworth, played with the essential stiff-upper-lip earnestness by Neil Dickson. Peter Cushing also appears in one of his final screen roles.

Should Biggles: Adventures in Time be sprung from the movie oubliette to soar again like its hero looping bravely back into the fray, or grounded permanently like a 'time-twin' displaced forever in the wrong era? Find out!

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The Curse of the Cat People

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 09:00:00 GMT

Happy holidays! Our festive special this year focuses on The Curse of the Cat People (1944), directed by Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise (of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Haunting fame), and produced by Val Lewton for RKO – a sequel that daringly abandons the horror conventions of its predecessor in favour of an atmospheric, psychological fairy-tale. The story follows young Amy Reed (Ann Carter), the sensitive and lonely daughter of Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) and Alice (Jane Randolph), whose imaginary friend manifests in the form of the serene and spectral Irena (Simone Simon), the tragic figure from Cat People (1942). With its expressionistic visuals, gentle pacing, and Lewton’s characteristically suggestive storytelling, should this film finally be released from the Movie Oubliette to flourish like Amy finding a true festive friend, or left to linger in the shadows like the fading spirits of Christmas past? Find out!

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The Flight of Dragons

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 08:00:00 GMT

Our final patrons' choice episode for 2025 is the 1982 VHS relic The Flight of Dragons from TV special animation legends Rankin/Bass. Based loosely on the speculative science book by Peter Dickinson and the fantasy novels of Gordon R. Dickson, the film sends the author insert character on a quest to save a magical realm from the suffocating encroachment of mankind's science. Along the way, Peter will meet wizards, dragons, a winsome princess, and an evil sorcerer voiced by James Earl Jones. But is it a forgotten classic that deserves to be in a domed nostalgic magic nature reserve, or should it be consigned to the straight-to-video bargain bin? Find out!

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Dust Bunny & Eternal Return (TIFF 2025 bonus reviews)

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

In the last of our series of early previews of forthcoming films, gleaned from Conrad's time at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) under the wing of Toronto native and film critic extraordinaire, Joe Lipsett, we're looking at two gold-and-turquoise whimsical fantasies: Dust Bunny and Eternal Return.

The former is Hannibal and Pushing Daisies showrunner Bryan Fuller's directorial debut, introducing Sophie Sloane as a young girl who recruits the assassin who lives next door (Mads Mikkelsen) to slay the monster that lives under her bed. Cue a delightfully colourful and frequently absurd fairytale that also features fun supporting turns from Sigourney Weaver as Mikkelsen's handler and David Dastmalchian as a rival assassin. It's an odd blend of ingredients, but does it work?

Eternal Return is writer-director Yaniv Raz's attempt to create a whimsical romantic time travel fantasy, starring Naomi Scott as a broken-hearted twenty-something and Kit Harington as the eccentric map shop owner who believes he can navigate her back to emotionally significant moments in her life... and possibly change them. Also featuring Simon Callow as an elderly friend who also narrates in his sonorous tones, and set in a London that wouldn't look out of place in a Potter adaptation, does this romantic confection sweep Conrad off his feet?

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Dead Birds

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 08:50:00 GMT

Dead Birds (2004), directed by Alex Turner and produced during the early-2000s boom in grimy, low-budget horror, is a Confederate-era ghost story that alternates between jump scares for a slow rot of dread and bad decisions. It follows a group of Civil War deserters – played by E.T.'s Henry Thomas, Patrick Fugit, Michael Shannon, and Isaiah Washington – who rob a bank and hole up in a derelict plantation, only to discover it’s crawling with the supernatural consequences of its own bloody past! So should this dusty relic be set free at last or should it be trapped in the dark with its guilt? Find out!

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And Sons & Rose of Nevada (TIFF 2025 bonus reviews)

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 12:00:00 GMT

We're back with our penultimate pair of exciting early previews of forthcoming attractions, gleaned from Conrad's time with Joe Lipsett at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). This time, the connection between them is simpler: they both feature one of Conrad's favourite actors, 1917's George Mackay.

The first, & Sons, stars Bill Nighy as a reclusive famous novelist who gathers his two estranged sons, Richard (Johnny Flynn) and Jamie (you guessed it, George Mackay), for an important announcement about their half-brother, Andy (Noah Jupe)... with a fantastical twist. This slow burn family drama with a sci-fi/fantasy element is an adapted from a novel by David Gilbert, directed by Pablo Trapero.

Perhaps more hotly anticipated is the new film from Cornish 16-mm phenomenon Mark Jenkins, director of Bait and Enys Men. Rose of Nevada features Mackay in a leading role alongside Masters of the Air's Callum Turner, as two men who unwisely sign up to work on a fishing boat that mysteriously drifted back into the docks – sans crew – after disappearing decades before. What follows is a voyage into an uncanny time-travel purgatory... but did it work? Find out!

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Retreat & Honey Bunch (TIFF 2025 bonus reviews)

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Joe Lipsett of Horror Queers joins Conrad again for another couple of advance previews of films at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and it's another case of spotting a couple of movies with a similar premise. In this case, it's women going to an isolated manor house for some form of wellness/recuperation exercise... only to discover things are not what they seem!

Retreat is Ted Evans' feature debut, and stars Anne Zander as a young woman who visits an isolated retreat for deaf people in the English countryside, run by the imperious Mia (Sophie Stone). There she discovers a community that may have more in mind than providing a safe space that helps prepare its members for life in the uncaring world of the hearing. Hailed as the world's first deaf thriller – the film's principle cast and its director are deaf – the film's relationship with sound is particularly fascinating.

Honey Bunch is an eerie horror/thriller from Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli, in which its central character Diana (Grace Glowicki) and her doting husband Homer (Ben Petrie) arrive at... yes, an isolated country house... so the former can recuperate from an unspecified recent accident. When we tell you Diana's injuries include brain trauma and memory loss, genre fans' twist-detecting spidey senses will immediately start tingling. Steeped in a late 70s Let's Scare Jessica to Death aesthetic, is an atmospheric affair – but did we like it? Find out!

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Seventh Son

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 09:00:00 GMT

Seventh Son (2014), an overcooked fantasy-adventure directed by Sergei Bodrov and adapted loosely from Joseph Delaney’s 'The Spook’s Apprentice', was a troubled Universal–Legendary Pictures co-production whose delays, rewrites, and ballooning budget became as notorious as the film itself. Set in a vaguely medieval landscape of witches, knights, and prophetic farm boys, it stars Jeff Bridges (yes, it's a JB double bill on Movie Oubliette!) gargling his way through a swamp of dialogue, Julianne Moore relishing her turn as an evil sorceress, and Ben Barnes looking perpetually bewildered as the titular seventh son of a seventh son. Game of Thrones heartthrob Kit Harington and Tomb Raider Alicia Vikander are also in the movie, apparently. Should this magical relic be sprung from the oubliette or should it be thrown off a cliff and left for dead? Find out!

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Heel & Bad Apples (TIFF 2025 bonus reviews)

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Our fourth bonus preview of forthcoming attractions that Conrad and Joe Lipsett caught at TIFF focuses on two British thrillers with a similar theme: children being locked in basements! The first, Heel (it was called 'Good Boy' when we saw it, but they must have changed it to avoid confusion with the haunted house film told through the eyes of a dog), sees an aimless and hedonistic teenager (Anson Boon) get abducted by Chris (Stephen Graham) and Kathryn (Andrea Riseborough), and subjected to their unorthodox approach to parenting. The second, Bad Apples, stars Saoirse Ronan as a primary school teacher in the UK who, though an unfortunate sequence of events, ends up trapping a foul-mouthed, disruptive student in her basement. One is a compelling character drama that recognises and eschews genre conventions, the other is a cuttingly satirical black comedy. Did we like them? Find out!

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Mārama & At the Place of Ghosts (TIFF 2025 bonus reviews)

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Our TIFF coverage continues with two horror-inflected films centring indigenous characters, and using hauntings as a method of exploring generational and personal trauma. In Taratoa Stappard's Mārama, a Māori woman travels from freshly colonised New Zealand to a creepily gothic English manor in the Yorkshire moors to uncover secrets about her family's past. Meanwhile, Bretten Hannam's At the Place of Ghosts (Sk+te'kmujue'katik) follows two estranged Mi’kmaw brothers' quest into the Canadian woods to avenge spirits that haunt them from their childhood.

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Don't Look Under the Bed (with Amanda Jane Stern)

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Happy Halloween! Writer, actor and producer Amanda Jane Stern returns for spooky season to introduce us to Don’t Look Under the Bed (1999), the Disney Channel’s first real foray into horror. It was a made-for-TV Halloween treat that prompted a parental backlash so strong it was quietly buried after a few years, only to recently resurface on Disney+! Directed by Kenneth Johnson (the creator of the 'V' science fiction franchise), it follows a sceptical teen (Erin Chambers) who reluctantly teams with a wisecracking imaginary friend (Eric “Ty” Hodges II) to stop the encroaching Boogeyman before he claims another victim. Should this family terror be sprung from the oubliette or be left to rattle around half-forgotten in the shadows under the bed? Find out!

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Exit 8 (TIFF 2025 bonus review)

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Our second preview of coming attractions from TIFF 2025 focuses on Genki Kawamura's psychological horror Exit 8, in which a commuter finds himself struggling to escape a seemingly endless loop of subway passages. Conrad joined Joe Lipsett, friend of the pod and co-host of the excellent Horror Queers podcast, in Toronto to discuss this liminal, time-loop terror, based on a popular video game.

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Obsession (TIFF 2025 bonus review)

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Horror Queers co-host and Toronto native Joe Lipsett joins Conrad for the first in a series of reviews of sci-fi, fantasy and horror films featured in this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). First up: Obsession, a darkly comedic relationship horror written, directed and edited by Curry Barker. It stars Michael Johnston as a hapless music store employee who makes a ill-fated wish that his secret crush, Nikki (Inde Navarette), would fall hopelessly in love with him. Be careful what you wish for...

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Tron (with Joe Lipsett)

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Joe Lipsett joings us to celebrate the imminent release of Tron: Ares by taking a look back at the original Tron (1982), a sci-fi action adventure arguably remembered best for its groundbreaking visuals and concepts rather than its storytelling and characters. Starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan and David Warner, the film takes us inside an alternate reality within the rapidly emerging and little understood digital domain – which seems quaint in retrospect – to tell a tale of a society under threat of subjugation by an all-powerful and unchecked AI – which seems anything but quaint in our current context! But should this one be remastered in neon HDR 4K (hint: it already has been) and worshipped, or should it be de-rezzed and deleted? Find out!

Check out our guest Joe Lipsett on Instagram, Horror Queers and The Queer Gaze.

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The One I Love (with Isaac Sutton)

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Isaac Sutton takes on guest hosting duties with Dan to explore Charlie McDowell's The One I Love (2014) – an offbeat romantic mystery starring Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss, with the director's step-dad, Ted Danson, in a small but pivotal role. Shot largely at a single location over 15 days, it follows a troubled married couple who retreat to a secluded estate for therapy — only to discover a bizarre phenomenon that presents them with eerily perfect duplicates of themselves. As the surreal premise deepens, the boundaries between love, identity, and self-delusion begin to unravel. Should it be hailed as a clever indie gem about self-acceptance, or quietly left to vanish like a partner who didn’t make it out of the Twilight Zone?

Check out Isaac's YouTube channel for more of his movie hot takes and rankings!

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Let’s Scare Jessica to Death

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 04:00:00 GMT

John D. Hancock’s Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971) is a moody, low-budget psychological horror shot in Connecticut, emerging at the uneasy dawn of the 1970s when American genre cinema was shifting toward ambiguity and dread rather than monsters and gore. Starring Zohra Lampert as the fragile Jessica, supported by Barton Heyman and Mariclare Costello, the film follows a small group retreating to a rural farmhouse where whispers of the past mingle with Jessica’s precarious mental state. Should this eerie curio languish in obscurity like a ghost no one believes in, or should it be acknowledged as a living, breathing classic of psychological horror?

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The Hidden

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Dan returns to explore The Hidden (1987), a sci-fi horror directed with slick B-movie flair by Nightmare on Elm Street 2 veteran Jack Sholder! An alien parasite with a love of fast cars and automatic weapons is jumping from body to body in the neon-lit streets of L.A., pursued by Kyle MacLachlan's eerily blank FBI agent. Flashdance love interest Michael Nouri plays the increasingly confused detective trying to make sense of exploding boomboxes, possessed bank robbers, and his new partner's alarming method of taking alka seltzer. With a synth-heavy score, gory mayhem, and Reagan-era cynicism oozing through every scene, should The Hidden be unhidden to the world? Or was it hidden for a reason? Find out!

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The Time Guardian (with Serge Bodnarchuk)

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Serge Bodnarchuk of Cold Crash Pictures joins Conrad to take on guest co-hosting duties while Dan goes on vacation – ironically, when we pull an Australian 80s sci-fi movie out of the Patreons' Choice nominations! It's another day, another ridiculous sci-fi bra for Carrie Fisher. The Time Guardian (1987) is an Ozploitation oddity directed by Mad Max (aka The Road Warrior) co-writer Brian Hannant, featuring a giant time-travelling dome, 'hoards' of menacing cyborgs, and a modern-day geologist trying to help a soldier from the future protect humanity's last hope. It's been largely overlooked and often difficult to find since its release. Even witty memoirist Carrie Fisher failed to mention it in her self-deprecating autobiographies. Should it be preserved for the ages in a time dome, or should it be blissfully forgotten? Find out!

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The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue (Patreon Clip)

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 23:00:00 GMT

In this clip from our Patreon exclusive episode this month, we review the direct-to-video (DTV) sequel to The Secret of NIMH – often referred to as the worst sequel to an animated film and "every NIMH fan's worst nightmare" – and explore the DTV trend of the 90s.

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Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (with Zoe Wells and Mikey Neumann)

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Zoe Wells and Mikey Neumann of FilmJoy join us to revisit Tim Story's superhero sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Released 2 years after Fox's surprising box office success with the original, the film marks a transitional moment in superhero cinema. Neither beloved or entirely dismissed, it's a sequel that manages to improve on its predecessor with world-ending stakes while still feeling oddly weightless and safe. Arriving just before the Marvel juggernaut truly found its stride with the release of Iron Man the following year, it flirted with cosmic grandeur (reimagining Galactus as an ominous V'ger style space cloud) while keeping one foot firmly planted in the PG, family-friendly camp with its will-they-won't-they wedding B-plot. As a second attempt at a reboot tops the box office, is it worth revisiting this one and enjoying its strengths? Or is it rightly consigned to oblivion? Find out!

Check out Movies With Mikey and Deep Dive to hear more of Mikey and Zoe's insights, and look out for Borderlands 4 while being nice to Sam Winkler!

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The Secret of NIMH (with Jonathan McIntosh)

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Jonathan McIntosh, creator of the excellent Pop Culture Detective Agency, joins us to uncover The Secret of NIMH (1982). Often remembered as an example of the surprisingly dark and sombre animated children's films of the 70s and 80s, alongside Watership Down (1978) and Disney's own The Black Cauldron (1985), The Secret of NIMH lacks musical numbers, but is filled with striking imagery, glorious hand-animated effects, memorable characters and a sumptuously rich Jerry Goldsmith score. The film made an indelible mark among those 80s kids who caught it on VHS or TV back in the day. But were they scarred for life by a morbid oddity or forever elevated by a magical piece of storytelling? Find out!

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Superman II (Patreon clip)

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 23:00:00 GMT

In this clip from our Patreon exclusive episode this month, we continue our Superman coverage by making Dan watch Superman II (1980), which he only vaguely remembered from childhood! Does it hold up? How does it sit with Superman Returns (2006) as an intended sequel? And why are there two cuts of it? We discuss all of this and more in our 1-hour bonus episode.

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Superman Returns (with Oliver Harper)

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Oliver Harper joins us to celebrate James Gunn's reboot of the Superman franchise by looking back at Bryan Singer's Superman Returns (2006), which tends to get lost in the mix when discussing previous attempts to revive the DC superhero. It boldly attempted to pick up the thread of the Christopher Reeve/Richard Donner era Superman and act as a sequel to Superman II (1980), with the charming (then unknown) Brandon Routh channeling Reeve in his portrayal of the man of steel and his bumbling alter ego. Despite its stellar casting, John Williams musical themes, and lavish production values, it failed to soar at the box office, leading to the cancellation of its sequel and a rethink that led us to Zack Snyder's series 7 years later. But is it a nostalgia pandering misfire or a misunderstood gem that deserves to return? Find out!

Check out Oliver Harper's retrospectives and reviews on YouTube, including his recent look back at Man of Steel!

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28 Weeks Later (featuring Juan Carlos Fresnadillo)

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo joins us to revisit his standalone sequel to Danny Boyle's iconic post-apocalyptic horror film. 28 Weeks Later (2007) focuses on the challenges of rebuilding a family and a society in the wake of the rage virus outbreak, while upping the stakes and the scale of the infected onslaught. In a sense, we get to see the things Jim slept through in the original. But despite a strong box office performance and positive reviews, it's often been overlooked since its release – even going unmentioned in the publicity around Boyle's own forthcoming sequel. Is it a under-appreciated entry in the series that deserves to be released from the Oubliette? Find out!

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The Tall Man

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Pascal Laugier's follow-up to Martyrs (2008) is a Canadian-French horror/thriller, set in a small, poverty-stricken town in Washington where local nurse Julia (Jessica Biel) gets caught up in a string of child abductions, which the townsfolk blame on a legendary boogeyman figure, The Tall Man (2012). The result is a twisty, turny tale full of surprises and stinger-highlighted jump scares. But is it an underrated classic of sociological terror or a muddle of deceptive plot contrivances? Find out!

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The New Boy (Bonus Review)

Wed, 21 May 2025 23:00:00 GMT

For this bonus episode, we take a look at Warwick Thornton's new film The New Boy, in which an Aboriginal child with mysterious powers disturbs the delicately balanced world in a remote monastery in 1940s Australia. Starring the always marvellous Cate Blanchett as the renegade nun, Sister Eileen, and Aswan Reid as the new boy, Thornton's story of spiritual struggle gets a theatrical release this Friday and will be on digital the following week.

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Looker

Mon, 19 May 2025 23:00:00 GMT

In Looker, Michael Crichton warned us of a future in which computer-generated thirst-traps manipulate unwitting consumers through the media, all at the behest of powerful tech moguls. In 1981, this all seemed a bit ridiculous – especially as performed by a stodgy Albert Finney chasing around with an Atari lightgun trying to rescue Playboy models. Not surprisingly, it only hacked $3.3 million out of the box office against an estimated $12 million budget. But it is a cruelly rejected gem that was way ahead of its time? Find out!

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Lifeforce (with Melinda Mock and Rob Hill)

Mon, 05 May 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Rob Hill, author of 'The Bad Movie Bible' and creator of the fabulous accompanying YouTube channel, joins Conrad and surprise guest host Melinda Mock of RetroBlasting to explore a notorious naked space vampire film that turns 40 this year. On paper, Lifeforce (1985) has everything you could possibly want for an epic cosmic horror British disaster film: an adaptation of a popular Lovecraftian novel by Colin Wilson, co-scripted by Alien co-creator Dan O'Bannon; a sizeable budget and some of the finest production technicians in London paired with ILM alumni John Dykstra's visual effects; and Tobe Hooper in the director's chair. Unfortunately, there are only two things most teens remember about Lifeforce... and both of them are attached to French actor Mathilda May. Is this a misunderstood gem of quirky British terror, or is decisive proof that Hooper didn't direct Poltergeist?

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Arachnophobia

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Arachnophobia scared up only $53 million at the box office when it was released in July of 1990, thanks to stiff competition from Ghost, and has largely been overlooked in the annals of monster movie horror comedies. All this despite a fine cast, including Jeff Daniels and John Goodman, and a Spielbergian pedigree. With a Christopher Landon remake in the works, we thought it was time to celebrate the original's 35th anniversary... but is it an endangered species that should be set free, or is it an ecological menace that should be left in the tepuis of Venezuela? Find out!

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Redline (2009) (with Isaac Sutton)

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Isaac Sutton joins us for our first venture into Japanese anime! Takeshi Koike's visually dazzling animated sci-fi racing spectacle Redline failed to find its audience upon its release in August 2009 despite critical praise. Does it deserve the cult status it's been cultivating on physical media since then, or is it all rev and no substance?

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Psycho III (Patreon clip)

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 20:47:58 GMT

Continuing our theme of exploring sequels to films we cover in the main feed, it was only natural that we'd want to follow the surprisingly good Psycho II (1983) with the surprisingly bad Psycho III (1986) in our Patreon feed. On paper, it looked like a slam dunk: Anthony Perkins was returning to his iconic role as Norman Bates and taking up the director's chair for the first time; the writer is Charles Edward Pogue, who was simultaneously drawing attention for his take on The Fly (1986); and it picks up at the motel barely weeks after the shocking finale of the second film. What could go wrong? Pretty much everything, it turns out.

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Psycho II

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Belated sequels to monumental, genre-defining classics always walk on a knife edge! They can be a worthwhile elaboration upon the original, recontextualised for a new era, or they can be cynical cashgrabs forever consigned as a footnote to cinema history. Australian director Richard Franklin's Psycho II (1983) benefits from returning cast members Vera Miles and, of course, Anthony Perkins, a twisty turny psychological mystery script from Fright Night's Tom Holland, a disturbing score from Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography from John Carpenter regular Dean Cundey. But is it just a pretender in a classic movie's clothes? Or should it be released from custody to set up a new franchise? Find out!

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The Final Countdown

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 23:00:00 GMT

We challenge you to hear the title of this movie without the synth riff of a massive-haired 80s rock anthem popping into your head... Sorry, you'll be humming that all day now. Try blocking it out by listening to our examination of Don Taylor's 1980 sci-fi war fantasy, in which a U.S. aircraft carrier captained by Kirk Douglas is whisked through a James Bond title sequence into the past – the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor, to be precise. Starring the U.S.S. Nimitz, lots of planes, more planes, and a cute dog... is this a forgotten gem of a movie that deserves to be restored to its place in film history? Or is it a waterlogged floater that deserves to be flushed?! Find out!

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Princess of Mars (Patreon Clip)

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Here's a sneak peek at our Patreon exclusive minisode on Princess of Mars (2009) – The Asylum's adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel that went straight to DVD a full 3 years before Disney stank up the box office with John Carter (2012). Could it possibly be worse? Sheesh... you betchya!

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John Carter

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Still the biggest box office bomb of all time, adjusted for inflation, John Carter (2012) was a brave attempt to give Edgar Rice Burroughs' influential sci-fi novel 'A Princess of Mars' the summer blockbuster treatment... 40 years after George Lucas and everyone else had pretty much raided all of its ideas for space opera hits. But is the film really that bad? Does it share the 'Mars movie' curse? Or did it just get lost in the shuffle in 2012 because of poor marketing? Find out!

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C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. (Patreon Clip)

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Here's a sneak peek at our new Patreon exclusive minisode on C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. (1989). This is the first time we've covered the sequel to a film we've covered in the main feed, and we had a blast!

If you like what you hear, head on over to www.patreon.com/movieoubliette and become a Patron to get hours of exclusive content, nominate films for us to cover and vote on the final verdict – all for $10 or less!

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Somewhere in Time (with Melinda Mock)

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Melinda Mock of RetroBlasting takes us back to 1912 to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Somewhere in Time (1980), the time travel romance starring Superman-era Christopher Reeve and radiant beauty Jane Seymour, directed by the late Jeannot Szwarc based on a novel by Richard Matheson. Should these star-crossed lovers be re-united in the afterlife of their box office obscurity, or should they be doomed never to wander the shores of Mackinac Island?

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C.H.U.D.

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 23:00:00 GMT

What better way to start the year than with a monster movie in which the creatures are literally crawling out of holes in the ground? It's simply ideal for Movie Oubliette! Nominated by our Patron, Philip O', C.H.U.D. (1984) is a New World Pictures production set in 80s New York City... so you better believe this is gritty and wild! Starring John Heard, Daniel Stern, Kim Greist and one-scene-CHUD-victim John Goodman, the film has a host of surprisingly well-drawn characters investigating the disappearance of homeless people in the city's labyrinthine underground world. But does it deserve to be the first film we save from the oubliette this year? Find out!

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Batman Returns (with Melinda Mock and Michael French)

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 22:46:16 GMT

Melinda Mock and Michael French of RetroBlasting fame answered our bat signal at the eleventh hour to join us for this special festive episode after our original guest had to drop out. And boy, are we glad they did! Yes, it's a bit cheeky of us to cover Tim Burton's snowy sequel to his blockbusting hit Batman (1989) on Movie Oubliette. It's dubious to claim it has been overlooked in the years since, but it was certainly a box office disappointment for Warner Bros. when it debuted in 1992. Adjusted for inflation, it earned $420 million less than the original, and is the second-lowest-grossing live action Batman movie, beaten only by Batman and Robin.

But is this dark and kinky sequel, in which Batman appears for only 23 minutes, a freaky festive classic? Or a gloomy gothic mess?

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2010: The Year We Make Contact

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 23:00:00 GMT

To mark the film's 40th anniversary, we revisit Peter Hyams' 2010 – a brave follow-up to a literal monolith in science fiction film history. In what was then called a 'belated' rather than a 'legacy' sequel, the film adapts Arthur C. Clarke's novel and features a stellar cast of Roy Scheider, Helen Mirren, John Lithgow, Bob Balaban and, returning from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Keir Dullea and Douglas Rain as Dave Bowman and HAL 9000. Yes, it's full of stars. But it is a worthy follow-up that stands on its own? Or is it a pale imitation and a footnote? Find out!

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Portrait of Jennie (with Amanda Jane Stern)

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 23:00:00 GMT

Actor, writer and producer Amanda Jane Stern – whose psychosexual thriller Perfectly Good Moment has launched on Tubi this month – joins us to discuss David O. Selznick's production of Portrait of Jennie. Based on a popular novella by Robert Nathan that Ray Bradbury said "touched and frightened" him, the romantic fantasy won an Oscar for Best Special Effects in 1948, but was not a success. Set in depression-era New York, it starred Jennifer Jones as the titular Jennie, an enigmatic young woman who inspires an impoverished painter, played by Joseph Cotton. The film is well regarded among those who remember it or have rediscovered it, but it's not easy to come by on streaming services or physical media. Unless you stumble upon it on Youtube, of course. But does it deserve to escape the oubliette and be immortalised? Find out!

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No Escape (1994)

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad find themselves exiled to a leafy island that looks suspiciously like Queensland in this episode, where they explore Martin Campbell's No Escape (1994) – an airy, outdoor adventure set in the distant future of 2022. It stars Ray Liotta as the scarred military vet convicted for shooting his CO after he covered up a war crime, who teams up with fellow inmates Lance Henriksen, Ernie Hudson and Kevin Dillon to defeat the evil Stuart Wilson's 'tribe' of sadistic killers and expose the greater evils of private prisons. Produced on a $20 million budget by Gale Anne Hurd, the movie got Campbell the gig directing GoldenEye (1995), but quickly vanished from theatres. But does it deserve early release from the oubliette to ease 90s prison movie overcrowding? Or should it be hurled back in with no chance of parole? Find out!

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Peeping Tom (with Duncan Skiles)

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 22:00:00 GMT

Happy Halloween! Duncan Skiles, director of the chilling The Clovehitch Killer and the forthcoming comedy thriller Neighborhood Watch, went trick or treating into the oubliette and brought back a Peeping Tom. This proto-slasher from Michael Powell, one half of the famous British duo Powell and Pressburger, emerged in the same year as Hitchcock's Psycho and explores similar territory: a handsome, unassuming man with a homicidal compulsion spurred by parental abuse.

But while one film was an instant box office sensation that became a landmark in horror history, the other was savaged by scandalised critics and destroyed its director's career. Rescued from obscurity over a decade later by Martin Scorsese, Peeping Tom has become an influential cult favourite. But does it deserve to escape the oubliette with a fulsome sack of calorific treats? Or should it be thrown back with some candy corn and a rotten apple? Find out!

Follow Duncan Skiles on Instagram, Facebook or his website! Look out for Neighbourhood Watch in Spring 2025.

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Robot Jox

Mon, 07 Oct 2024 22:00:00 GMT

Stuart Gordon's post-apocalyptic sci-fi featuring gladiatorial battles between giant mechs has to be one of Empire Pictures' most instantly recognisable titles, sitting proudly on video rental stores worldwide. Starring Gary Graham and Anne-Marie Johnson as the brave robot jockeys and Paul Koslo as their ruthless enemy, Robot Jox could be the brightest and breeziest dystopian action movie ever made. It was also one of the most ambitious film Charles Band's mini-major studio ever attempted, and may have precipitated the fall of his Empire! But does it live up to our childhood memories? Or is it as cringe-inducing as a fondly remembered Saturday morning cartoon? Find out!

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TIFF 2024 bonus episode 3: haunted houses

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 22:00:00 GMT

In our third and final bonus episode covering highlights from the Toronto International Film Festival, friend of the pod Joe Lipsett joins Conrad to review three haunted house movies from this year's programme: Steven Soderbergh's bold ghost P.O.V. mystery Presence, Karrie Crouse and Will Joines' dusty western Hold Your Breath, and Nick Toti and Rachel Kempf's rarely screened found footage chiller It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This. Conrad also reports on Mike Flanagan's latest Stephen King adaptation, the warm-hearted but oddly structured The Life of Chuck.

Check out Joe Lipsett on Instagram and the Horror Queers podcast for more of his reviews from the festival and other fabulousness.

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TIFF 2024 bonus episode 2: ghosts and monsters

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 10:00:00 GMT

For our second round-up reviews of horror films that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, special guest Joe Lipsett and I cover four more horror films. We start with two ghost stories: the frosty New Zealand drama Went Up the Hill, directed by Samuel Van Grinsven and starring Dacre Montgomery and Vicky Krieps; and the rambunctious Taiwanese horror comedy Dead Talents Society, directed by John Hsu and starring Gingle Wang. We also take a look at Scott Beck and Bryan Woods' psychological puzzle box thriller, Heretic, featuring a charmingly sinister Hugh Grant, as well as Joseph Kahn's monster-on-the-loose horror comedy Ick, starring Brandon Routh and Malina Weissman.

Check out Joe Lipsett on Instagram and the Horror Queers podcast for more of his reviews from the festival and other fabulousness.

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Carnosaur (with Serge Bodnarchuk)

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 22:00:00 GMT

Saurian cinema connoisseur Serge Bodnarchuk of Cold Crash Pictures joins Dan as guest co-host for a dinosaur sci-fi horror adventure from 1993. No, not that one. This is Movie Oubliette! It's the low-budget Roger Corman production Carnosaur, starring Laura Dern's mom, Diane Ladd, and Bryce Dallas Howard's uncle, Clint Howard! This adaptation of John Brosnan's novel hit 65 theatres a few weeks before Spielberg's blockbuster romped into box office history. Featuring astonishing special effects from Troll director John Carl Buechler, this alleged mockbuster is without doubt the scrappy underdog, but is it a charming creature feature that deserves to be rescued? Find out!

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TIFF 2024 bonus episode 1: body horrors

Fri, 20 Sep 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Conrad is joined by Joe Lipsett live and in-person at the Toronto International Film Festival to give early reviews of the horror, sci-fi and fantasy films that premiered at TIFF this year. In this first bonus episode, we're looking at the body horror films on the programme: including Coralie Fargeat's The Substance (winner of the People's Choice Award), Max Minghella's Shell, Marielle Heller's Nightbitch and Thibault Emin's debut Else.

Follow Joe Lipsett on Instagram and the Horror Queers podcast.

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Conquest (with Vincenzo Natali)

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 21:55:21 GMT

Vincenzo Natali (director of Cube, Splice, Haunter) introduces us to the little known sword and sorcery film, Conquest, directed by splatter gore master, Lucio Fulci. We deliberate over Mace's nunchucks, magical laser bows, bargain bin wolfmen and Ocron's wardrobe choices to decide whether Conquest is an ethereal journey into a ritualistic ruthless fantasy world or rather a fever dream you can't wake up from. Also there's buckets of blood! Conquest awaits!
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The People Under the Stairs

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 22:00:00 GMT

We're exploring the twisted underbelly of suburbia in Wes Craven's 1991 horror comedy The People Under the Stairs. Much like Craven's other non-Nightmare and non-Scream franchise-related outings, this one has remained hidden from popular consciousness despite a warm reception in the box office on its first release and an ardent cult following ever since then. Should The People be freed from their cruel incarceration and allowed to roam free in the daylight? Or should it remain an embarrassing secret in Craven's basement? Find out!

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Long Weekend (with Joe Lipsett)

Mon, 12 Aug 2024 22:00:00 GMT

Joe Lipsett of the Horror Queers podcast joins us for a Long Weekend (1978), where bickering couple Peter and Marcia venture out into the Australian wilderness for a camping trip they might not live to regret. Colin Eggleston's psychological thriller, written by Everett De Roche (of 'Patrick' and 'Razorback' fame), won prizes on the festival circuit and is fondly remembered by filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, but it's been largely forgotten since. Does this Ozploitation revenge-of-nature horror deserve its day at the beach? Is it a quietly disturbing parable with a convincing air of growing existential dread, or is it a forgettable slog with two awful campmates and too much grotty symbolism? Find out!

Follow Joe Lipsett on what was Twitter and Instagram, and check out his Youtube channel with Conrad, The Queer Gaze!

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Equilibrium

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 22:00:00 GMT

Christian Bale backflipped out of the oubliette dual-toting pistols, so we're forced to contend with Kurt Wimmer's Equilibrium (2002) – a sci-fi action extravaganza set in a totalitarian state where everyone has to complete the Kolinahr ritual and avoid content creation of any kind. Also starring Emily Watson, Taye Diggs and Sean Bea (although, of course, not for long), the film faceplanted on its release in December 2002 and has been dismissed as a lukewarm second serving of The Matrix (1999) ever since. Does everyone need to take a chill pill and appreciate this high-concept actioner for what it is? Or was everyone right first time? Find out!

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Shallow Grave

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 07:18:59 GMT

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Danny Boyle's debut feature film Shallow Grave (1994) was eclipsed by Trainspotting (1996) and remains largely forgotten outside its native UK. But is the dark comedy thriller worth exhuming? Dan and Conrad pack up their hack saws and head for the woods to explore this slice of 90s Britain!

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Erik the Viking (with Michael French)

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 22:00:00 GMT

Michael French of RetroBlasting joins us on a quest to Valhalla with Erik the Viking (1989) – Monty Python alumni Terry Jones' fantasy film starring Tim Robbins, Samantha Bond, Imogen Stubbs, Eartha Kitt, Mickey Rooney and John Cleese. This is the second historical adventure film from ex-Pythons we've covered this year that attempts to avoid treading on the comedy troupe's large coat-tails and trips rather spectacularly, stumbling out of the box office top 20 in under a week with less than $2 million on a $15 million budget. But is Erik's earnest quest to end the violent days of Ragnorok an overlooked rib-tickling masterwork or a tedious misfire? Find out!

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The Black Hole

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 22:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad venture into Disney's 'dark era' again – this time with a sci-fi twist! It's The Black Hole (1979), the mouse house's answer to the colossal box-office and cultural phenomenon of Star Wars two years prior. And like all dark era flops, it uncomfortably straddles mature themes (an egomaniacal scientist determined to journey through a massive black hole and willing to enslave his entire crew as zombified androids to do his bidding) with family-friendly fun (robots with Disney eyes having laser battles). The result is a grandiose, steampunk adventure with stilted dialogue, eye-popping visuals and a doom-laden score by John Barry at his finest... but is it any good? Or are Conrad's nostalgia goggles deceiving him? Find out!

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Dog Soldiers

Mon, 03 Jun 2024 22:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad join the British Armed Forces for a spot of hiking in the Scottish Highlands, only to find themselves in a siege horror surrounded by werewolves! Yes, Neil Marshall's debut feature Dog Soldiers (2002) has escaped its leash and scampered out of the oubliette for this episode. Often overshadowed by the director's wildly popular follow-up, The Descent (2005) – particularly in the U.S., where it didn't get a theatrical release – Dog Soldiers is a witty, action-packed lost patrol monster movie that punches above its weight and delivered some visceral practical werewolf goodness at a time when CGI was becoming a popular method of visualising lycanthropic transformations. But does it hold up 22 years later? Find out!

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The Happiness of the Katakuris (with Marta Djordjevic)

Mon, 20 May 2024 22:00:00 GMT

Marta Djordjevic – aka Marta McFly of McFly's Movie House podcast – joins Conrad and Dan for the delirious 2002 Japanese musical comedy horror The Happiness of the Katakuris directed by none other than prolific iconoclast Takashi Miike, who lensed 6 films in that year alone! In this case, Miike remakes Kim Jee-woon's disturbing black comedy The Quiet Family (1998) – about a family attempting to cover up a series of unfortunate deaths in their new guest house – as a genre-defying musical with karaoke and claymation sequences. The film eludes any kind of explanation, but is it any good?

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Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann

Mon, 06 May 2024 22:00:00 GMT

We're hopping on a motorcycle with a built-in 8-track player and getting zapped back the wild west for this Patreon's choice episode! Timerider (1982) stars Fred Ward as the lovable if slightly clueless motorcross racer, Lyle Swann, who finds himself transported back in time to 1877, where he falls in love with the fearless Claire (Belinda Bauer) and attracts the unwanted attention of ruthless bandit Reese (Peter Coyote). Directed by Harry and the Hendersons helmer William Dear, and co-written and produced with Michael Nesmith of The Monkees (who also provides a rocking 80s score), it's a notable precursor to a much more successful time travel adventure comedy that would emerge just 3 years later – and is alarmingly similar to one of its sequels! But, does it deserve greater recognition or should it be lost to the mists of time? Find out!

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The Shadow (with Oliver Harper)

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 22:00:00 GMT

Retrospective reviewer extraordinaire, documentary filmmaker and action movie editor Oliver Harper joins us to probe the dark recesses of The Shadow (1994) – Russell Mulcahy's would-be summer blockbuster superhero adventure starring Alec Baldwin, Penelope Ann Miller, Jone Lone, Peter Boyle, Tim Curry and Ian McKellan (pre-Sir!). It has an action packed soundtrack from Jerry Goldsmith, a hero with mind control abilities locked in mortal combat with the last descendent of Genghis Khan, and a Taylor Dayne end title power ballad. What more could you want?! Well, moviegoers in 1994 who were hooked on Speed wanted a lot more, and stayed away in droves. But were they wrong? Who knows? The Shadow knows!

Check out Oliver's retrospectives and reviews on YouTube!

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The Watcher in the Woods (1980)

Mon, 08 Apr 2024 22:00:00 GMT

We're delving into Disney's Dark Period in the late 70s/early 80s in this childhood nostalgia episode on none other than the cult curiosity The Watcher in the Woods. Directed by John "Legend of Hell House" Hough and featuring Bette Davis in scowling hag mode, this tale of an American family experiencing spooky goings on in an Olde English house is surprisingly effective and perfect gateway horror for 80s kids. But it was also a troubled production, featuring on-set battles, a dramatic rethink after its premiere and reshoots to 'fix' the ending, as the House of Mouse struggled to come to terms with making PG-rated material. Does the end result stand the test of time for Conrad and does it work for newcomers like Dan? Find out!

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The Abominable Snowman (with Serge Bodnarchuk)

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 23:00:00 GMT

Writer/director and cryptid enthusiast Serge Bodnarchuk of Cold Crash Pictures joins us for a expedition into previous unexplored territory for Movie Oubliette: 1950s Hammer Horror! But The Abominable Snowman (1957) isn't a gothic horror or even a monster movie. It's an atmospheric thriller starring Peter Cushing as a sweetheart botanist with a thing for yetis who foolishly joins a brash American expedition into the Himalayas to find the eponymous beast, despite the protests of his wife and sage warnings from the local Lama. Sort of The Blair Witch Project meets The Thing with a dash of Wolfen? But, crucially, does this largely forgotten gem from the famous studio deserve to be carried back to civilisation? Or should it be used as monster bait with an unloaded gun? Find out!

Follow Serge's Youtube channel Cold Crash Pictures for excellent film essays – including one on cryptids!

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Dune (1984)

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 23:00:00 GMT

The spice must flow! And we have a feeling all kinds of spices were flowing during the making of Dune (1984), David Lynch's first faltering steps into the Hollywood mainstream. An ambitious attempt to realise Frank Herbert's seminal science fiction novel as a baroque, epic, intelligent, space opera, blockbuster yielded some indelible images – Sting naked except for a winged codpiece springs to mind – and flounders in the uncanny valley between a true Lynchian vision of a world some 8000 years in the future and a cleansed, PG-rated family film for the cinemagoing masses. The result is fascinating and curious – not least for having a jaw-dropping cast – but, crucially, does it deserve to leave the oubliette on its 40th anniversary? Or should it be left as a footnote in the great director's career, its memory erased in favour of Denis Villeneuve's box office smash hit remakes? Find out!

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Jabberwocky (with Rob Hill)

Mon, 26 Feb 2024 23:00:00 GMT

Rob Hill, author of The Bad Movie Bible, joins us on a medieval adventure into the solo directorial debut of Terry Gilliam: Jabberwocky (1977). The comedy fantasy features a veritable 'who's who' of British comedy: three Pythons, music hall star Max Wall, Harry H. Corbett of 'Steptoe and Son', John Le Mesurier of 'Dad's Army', Warren Mitchell of 'In Sickness and In Health', and Carry On's Bernard Bresslaw. It also has everything you want in a hero's quest: a terrifying monster, brave knights, a beautiful princess... and public urination. It sits somewhere between the Gilliam we came to know and love, and the Monty Python traditions he was trying to leave behind. But does it work? Find out!

Buy Rob's book on Amazon.com or other, non-billionaire-funding outlets, and check out his Youtube channel.

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Shakma

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad are invited to join Roddy McDowall's live action role play of 'Donkey Kong' – complete with homicidal primate and princess at the top level – as they check out Shakma (1990), thanks to our patrons' choice nomination! In it, McDowall plays a professor who experiments on baboons with mind-altering substances by day, but stages elaborate LARP-ing sessions with his students in the college building by night. In their latest game, Sam (Christopher Atkins), Tracy (Amanda Wyss), Kim (Ari Meyers) and their friends get more than they bargained for when one baboon goes berserk and starts to pick them off one by one. How will they defeat the primal rage of Shakma? Will pushing cutlery out of the window alert passers by? And why is the hero obsessed with moving around dead bodies? Find out if this is a hidden treasure or an experiment gone wrong!

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The Postman (with Mikey Neumann and Zoe Wells)

Mon, 29 Jan 2024 23:00:00 GMT

We're back at last! And what better way to start the year than being reunited with FilmJoy's Mikey Neumann and Zoe Wells for another Kevin Costner apocalypse movie? This time it's 1997's The Postman – the tale of a travelling one-man-and-one-mule Shakespeare company who, after his acting partner is killed and turned into paste by a roving fascist militia, accidentally starts a religion around a basic infrastructure service that brings hope to the ragged survivors of the third world war. It's heartfelt. It's three hours long. It strangely features most of Kevin's children – in one case, as a townsperson who makes a pass at him. But is it a bloated vanity project or a hidden gem that's more relevant now than it was in the 90s? Find out!

Follow FilmJoy on YouTube and, if you're brave, Mikey and Zoe on the smouldering wreckage of Twitter!

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I Am Not a Serial Killer (featuring Dan Wells)

Mon, 11 Dec 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Happy holidays! Writer Dan Wells joins us for our festive finale for the year to discuss the adaptation of his novel I Am Not a Serial Killer. The film stars Max Records as John Wayne Cleaver, a serial-killer-obsessed teenager who works in his mother's mortuary and has been diagnosed with sociopathy, and Christopher Lloyd as Bill Crowley, John's gentle old neighbour... who harbours a dark secret. When a killer terrorises John's snowbound midwestern town from Halloween to the holiday season, what begins as a hobbyist's investigation turns into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with a monster even John struggles to understand. Can he stop the slasher before his family becomes the next target? Will he be able to keep his own dark impulses under control? And will his absentee father send him a decent gift this year? Find out!

Check out Dan Wells' website to find out about his books, public appearances and gaming retreats!

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Highway to Hell (with Isaac Sutton)

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:21:31 GMT

Isaac Sutton guest co-hosts with Dan (while Conrad is on vacation!) to talk all things underworld related in Highway to Hell (1991). We follow lovers, Charlie and Rachel, as they try to escape the clutches of the merciless Sargeant Bedlam, grotesque girlfriend doppelgangers and Ben Stiller's entire family. It's a movie for the whole family! Strap in for Anarchy, Armageddon and Annihilation with the Satanic Mechanic. You're in for a hell of a ride!

---

Follow Isaac Sutton on Twitter and check out his YouTube channel!

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The Sword and the Sorcerer

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad resurrect an ancient wizard from a screaming coffin of tomato soup, hoist their triple-bladed shootin' sword and set off for the swashbuckling, headsplitting adventure of The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) – the late Albert Pyun's directorial debut, featuring Lee Horsley, Kathleen Beller, Simon MacCorkindale, Geroge Maharis and Richard Lynch. It's your standard orphaned son of a murdered king returns to avenge his father's death and restore freedom to the realm, except he's actually not bothered and only wants to shag the Princess who hires him. It has some shocking scenes of gore and copious amounts of unnecessary female nudity, which made it somewhat of a video rental treasure for pre-pubescent boys in the 80s... but does it stand up to scrutiny now? Find out!

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The Legend of Hell House (with Chris McKay)

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Chris McKay, director of the thrilling horror comedy Renfield, joins us for our Halloween special for a tour of one of his favourite haunted house movies: The Legend of Hell House, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. It features a rag-tag group of psychics and physicians investigating a notoriously evil abode once inhabited by a deranged megalomaniac whose hobbies included bestiality, necrophilia and "a gamut of sexual goodies". Based on a novel by Richard Matheson and directed by John Hough, this 70s take on The Haunting stars Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill and Gayle Hunnicutt and features homicidal chandeliers, ninja cats and Roddy slapping a naked woman. But crucially, is it a spooktacular des res or a footnote in the haunted house listings? Find out!

Follow Chris McKay on the social media formerly known as Twitter and Instagram.

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The Exorcist prequels (with Serge Bodnarchuk)

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 22:00:00 GMT

Serge Bodnarchuk of Cold Crash Pictures joins us for a spooky season double-whammy spectacular. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the late William Friedkin's classic horror The Exorcist (1973) and the release of David Gordon Green's apprehensively anticipated rebootquel, The Exorcist: Believer (2023), we've scrabbled around in the oubliette and fished out not one but two Exorcist prequels: Renny Harlin's The Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) and Paul Schrader's Dominion: Prequel to the Excorcist (2005). That's two for the price of one! Well, more accurately, two for the price of two disastrous box office bombs based on the same premise with largely the same cast on the same sets but with different directors. It's quite simply the weirdest situation to ever befall a major horror franchise. How the hell did this happen? What are the differences? And crucially, are either of them worth exorcising and releasing into the world? Find out!

Follow the immensely talented and insightful Serge on YouTube and Instagram!

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Solomon Kane

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 22:00:00 GMT

In this Patron's Choice episode, we're venturing into the territory of sword and sorcery master Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane (2009), M. J. Bassett's largely forgotten action adventure film starring James Purefoy as the brutal privateer turned Puritan avenger on a quest to rescue a young pilgrim girl from an evil sorcerer. This one vanished without a trace after a bungled release in the US, where it was held up by legal issues, so few genre fans had a chance to witness its glorious locations, gritty tone, bone crunching action and stunning stunts on the big screen. But does it stand the test of time, or is it an unremarkable addition to the post-Lord-of-the-Rings high fantasy boom of the noughties? Find out!

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Dreamcatcher

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 22:00:00 GMT

We're revisiting the big budget adaptation of Stephen King's Dreamcatcher at long last! Not only is the film celebrating its 20th anniversary, it's also a movie Dan's been wanting to cover since he started reading the book 5 years ago when we started this podcast! He's finally finished it, despite a canine mishap midway through, so here we are... And what a spectacle it is. An isolated snowy landscape, an alien invasion, possession, red fungal infections, a group of friends with psychic powers... there's a lot going on in this one! And the pedigree of the artists behind it is astonishing: Lawrence Kasdan, the writer of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire Strikes Back, directs and co-scripts with Misery adapter and The Princess Bride scribe William Goldman, with a cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Damian Lewis, Jason Lee, Timothy Olyphant, Thomas Jane, Tom Sizemore and Donnie Wahlberg. And special effects by ILM! What could possibly go wrong?! A lot, it turns out. But is it still worthy of freedom from the oubliette? Find out!

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The Fourth Man (with Vincenzo Natali)

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 22:00:00 GMT

The incredible Vincenzo Natali, director of Cube, Splice and In the Tall Grass, joins us to explore Paul Verhoeven's final Dutch-language film before he launched his Hollywood career: The Fourth Man (1983). It's a visually stunning, darkly erotic thriller, with a Hitchcockian blonde, eye-popping and leg-crossing effects, and some subversive religious imagery. But is this hard-to-find tale of a drunken writer encountering a sultry widow of not one but three husbands a mischievous treasure... or a fever dream best forgotten? Find out!

Follow Vincenzo Natali on the app formerly known as Twitter!

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Bug (2006)

Mon, 21 Aug 2023 22:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad find themselves itching compulsively while padding around in a tinfoil-covered motel room searching for aphids. Yes, we're revisiting Bug (2006), the late William Friendkin's adaptation of Tracy Letts' play starring Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Lynn Collins and Harry Connick Jr. It's an intense psychological thriller set largely in a single room focusing on two lonely outcasts who go crazy in love... literally. Or maybe they really are the focus of a giant conspiracy involving medical experiments, child abduction, genetically modified insects and one giant mother super bug. We picked this one out of the oubliette before the sad news of the director's passing, so this comes as an unplanned but timely retrospective on the film Friedkin called his most intense piece of work. Where does it sit in his legacy? Find out!

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Troll (with Melinda Mock)

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:00:00 GMT

Melinda Mock of RetroBlasting and Dreamland guest co-hosts and, while Dan is away, leads Conrad into the weird fairytale horror of Troll (1986), Empire Pictures' second-highest-grossing b-movie, which has since been overshadowed by the internet memes of its largely unrelated and famously awful sequel. Featuring Noah Hathaway (The NeverEnding Story), Michael Moriarty (The Stuff), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (!) and Sonny Bono (!!!), it tells the story of the young Harry Potter Jr. – yes, you read that right – discovering a world of magic and terror when his family moves into a new apartment building infested by the titular Troll. It has everything you'd want in a video rental: Sonny Bono turning into a quivering green turd, June Lockheart brandishing a spear and a singing magic mushroom. But is it any good? Find out!

Check out Melinda's podcast Dreamland and the RetroBlasting YouTube channel.

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Zathura: A Space Adventure (with Manika Dulcio)

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 22:00:00 GMT

Manika Dulcio of the 'I've Been Meaning to Watch That' podcast visits us with a dusty old board game from 2005 called Zathura: A Space Adventure, and before we know it, we're thrust into a wild sci-fi adventure with meteors, dinosaur aliens and frozen older sisters! Jon Favreau's first big effects movie has been eclipsed in popular culture by the first adaptation of a Chris Van Allsburg children's book, Jumanji – with which it bears a striking resemblance – but it has a lot going for it. It features early appearances by Josh Hutcherson and Kristen Stewart, with Dax Shepherd and Tim Robbins as the responsible adults, some striking visuals and a captivating combination of practical and CGI effects. But did it deserve to fall into the memory hole, or should a new generation of kids give it a spin? Find out!

Check out Manika's podcast on iTunes, Spotify or wherever good podcasts are streamed!

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The Ice Pirates

Mon, 10 Jul 2023 22:00:00 GMT

Avast, ye space mateys! Con and Dan haul anchor and set sail for the 80s yet again for a slice of semi-spoof space operatics in the form of The Ice Pirates (1984), which stars Robert Urich, Mary Crosby, Michael D. Roberts and features early appearances from Anjelica Houston and Ron Perlman. Set in another galaxy far, far away, where water has become a rare commodity, the film starts out as a heist caper, then takes a weird left-turn into castration and slavery before ending with a battle in a time warp on the way to finding a fabled water-rich planet. It has lasers and robots, but also knee boots, chain mail, cutlasses and an alarming amount of swinging on ropes. Not to mention something called 'space herpes'. But is it still entertaining when you're no longer 10 years old? Find out!

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SpaceCamp

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 22:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad join the ranks of the best and the brightest (and bored billionaires) as they blast off into low Earth orbit with Kate Capshaw, Lea Thompson, Tate Donovan, Larry B. Scott, Kelly Preston and a Leaf-like Joaquin Phoenix (yet to fully bloom in this early role). Yup! Our Patreons forced us to sign up for SpaceCamp (1986), the sci-fi adventure whose release was timed to capitalise on the teacher-in-space excitement of the Space Shuttle Challenger's 10th mission... but sadly limped out into the box office in the wake of a national tragedy. But, crucially, is this tale of teenage teamwork and survival against the odds an overlooked inspirational boost or just a painful memory? Find out!

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The Puppet Masters (with Joe Lipsett)

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 22:00:00 GMT

Film critic and Horror Queers co-host Joe Lipsett joins us to explore the body snatching invasion thriller The Puppet Masters (1994), an adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein's 1951 sci-fi novel starring Donald Sutherland, Eric Thal, Julie Warner, Keith David, Will Patton and Yaphet Kotto. Astonishing practical effects abound as parasitic manta rays from space leap merrily onto the backs of unsuspecting cast members, turning them into mindless drones bent on world domination. Their only giveaway? They have no interest whatsoever in Julie Warner's cleavage. Seriously, this is a plot point. It's gleeful straight-to-video fun from the height of the X-Files era, but does it hold up? Find out!

Follow Joe Lipsett on Twitter, read his work on Bloody Disgusting and check out the Horror Queers podcast!

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Sisters (with Mary Jo Pehl)

Mon, 29 May 2023 22:00:00 GMT

Writer, actor, comedian and all-round wonderful human being Mary Jo Pehl joins us as we try to untangle the twisted tale of Brian De Palma's Sisters (1972). Starring Margot Kidder (of Superman and The Amityville Horror fame) in the dual roles of demure French Canadian model Danielle and her psychotic, groin-stabby twin Dominique, and Jennifer Salt as the hard-boiled investigative journalist determined to prove the murder she witnessed from her apartment window, Sisters is at once a delirious Hitchcockian fever dream that would define the direction of De Palma's career and dark exposé of the forces ranged against the women's liberation movement. But is it a thrilling thriller or a shrill, tiresome pastiche? Find out!

Find out more about Mary Jo Pehl on her website, watch her show at Dumb Industries, buy her book and listen to her pointedly hilarious riffs with Bridget Nelson at Rifftrax!

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Powder

Mon, 15 May 2023 20:39:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan discover the 1995 sci-fi fantasy drama Powder cowering away in the oubliette basement and drag it whimpering into the sunlight to see if it's the sort of baby you want to immediately disown in the maternity ward, or a misunderstood marvel that's "too beautiful for this world". The tale of a mysterious young man with a whiter-than-white complexion who seems to have supernatural powers, Powder could be a religious allegory or a heartwarming fable. But given that its writer/director is Victor Salva and the narrative keeps having to take a backseat to unjustifiable flashes of male nudity, the film could have a wholly different agenda. It stars Sean Patrick Flanery, Lance Henrikson, Mary Steenburgen and none other than Jeff Goldblum... which is quite a cast... and features a sumptuous score from Jerry Goldsmith. But, crucially, is it any good? And can we separate the art from the artist? Find out!

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Martin

Mon, 01 May 2023 22:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad explore the late George A. Romero's personal favourite and, until now, most elusive film, Martin (1977), courtesy of Second Sight Films, whose stunning 4K remastered edition of the available to order in the UK now. It bears some narrative similarity with Vampire's Kiss (1988), the topic of our previous episode, in that its central character believes they are a vampire... but might not be. But whereas Robert Bierman's film is a meme-worthy black comedy phenomenon with an outrageous central performance from Nicolas Cage set in 80s corporate New York, Romero's film is an understated character study of a troubled young man, played with alluring yet disturbing innocence by John Amplas, set against the post-industrial decay of a small Pennsylvania town in the late 70s. But is this rarely seen and often-overlooked entry in Romero's filmography a hidden gem or a forgettable oddity? Find out!

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Vampire’s Kiss (with Lars Henriks)

Mon, 17 Apr 2023 22:00:00 GMT

Writer, director and actor Lars Henriks returns to help us through another odd 80s film featuring fangs and eccentric performances: Vampire's Kiss (1988). That's right! Long before Nicolas Cage portrayed the most famous vampire of them all in this year's horror comedy Renfield, he played Peter Loew – a yuppie literary agent who becomes convinced he's a bloodsucking creature of the night after a terrifying one-night stand with the alluring Rachel (Jennifer Beals). But is it real, or is he an American psycho who's a dick to his secretary (Mario Conchito Alonso)? And will every single scene of Cage's unhinged performance become an internet meme?! Find out as we delve into the film behind so many memorable gifs to find out if there's black comedy gold to be mined or if it's a $3.99 set of plastic novelty teeth.

Follow Lars on Instagram and find out about anti kyno, the new independent local film and children's theater for adults he's opening in Hamburg!

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The Adventures of Pluto Nash

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 22:00:00 GMT

One of our Patreons nominated Eddie Murphy's notorious 2003 sci-fi action 'comedy' The Adventures of Pluto Nash for this episode, which on paper should have been promising. Its star was coming off a string of family-friendly comedies like The Nutty Professor, Dr. Dolittle and Shrek. Its supporting cast includes Randy Quaid, Rosario Dawson, Joe Pantoliano, Jay Mohr, Pam Grier and John Cleese. It's directed by quirky action/comedy wunderkind Ron Underwood of Tremors fame and has a budget north of $100 million. What could possibly go wrong?! A lot, it turns out. Quite a lot. But despite being the biggest box office flop of all time when it was released, it hasn't emerged as either a reclaimed cult classic or a so-bad-it's-good guilty pleasure... it's been largely forgotten. So, let's take a look at this curio and decide whether we're over the moon with it... or hitting the abort button before it causes collateral damage!

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Dungeons and Dragons (with Michael French)

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 23:00:00 GMT

A new Dungeons and Dragons movie arrives in theatres this month, so we thought we'd take a look back at the very first attempt to bring the beloved role-playing phenomenon to the screen. As two first-level novices, Dan and Conrad needed an expert Dungeon Master to guide them through this early 2000s CGI-fest, so the sage-like Michael French of RetroBlasting joins them. At least, he does until his Internet took pity and set him free from the spectacle of PlayStation 1 cut-screen establishing shots, Jeremy Irons devouring the scenery and spitting it venomously back out, and evil henchmen in frosty blue lipstick. The fantasy extravaganza directed by first-time helmer Courtney Solomon, featuring Justin Whalin, Marlon Wayans, Thora Birch, Zoe McLellan and Kristen Wilson is a much-maligned box office disaster, but is it a powerful gem just waiting to be rediscovered? Find out!

Check out RetroBlasting on YouTube!

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Undead

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan are down under again, celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Spierig Brothers first feature film, Undead, a chucklesome zombie-and-alien-visitation action extravaganza made on a shoestring budget with a "she'll be right" attitude. This 50s B-movie made in 2003 has wit and inventiveness galore, a vivacious ensemble cast and a score so cheesy it should come with a lactose-intolerance warning, but, crucially, does it stand the test of time or is it better left buried alongside a triple-double-barrell shotgun? Find out!

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The Wraith

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan find themselves in the Arizona wilderness, watching the genre-defying, fast-and-furious road racing, sci-fi fantasy horror revenge thriller The Wraith (1986). It features Charlie Sheen as new boy in town Jake, who just may or may not be the reincarnation of murdered local hero Jamie and may or may not be the alter ego of a mysterious black-clad racing driver who's picking off the members of the gang who killed him while driving his super futuristic concept car. Is anyone following this? No? Neither are we, frankly, but luckily we have Sherilyn Fenn, Randy Quaid, Clint Howard, Nick Cassavetes and a killer 80s soundtrack to distract us!

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Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad venture into the Forbidden Zone in stunning 80s 3D for this episode, with only a 14-year-old Molly Ringwald as their guide,Peter Strauss as their store-brand Han Solo hero and Ernie Hudson as... I dunno... someone who is also there? It's 80s b-movie sci-fi at its finest, as the world-weary bounty hunter Wolff (with two 'f's) drives across a desert planet to rescue three supermodels from the clutches of the mutant dictator, Overdog, played by Michael Ironside, whose attempts to chew scenery are frustrated by his being strapped to a camera crane throughout the movie. It's an obvious cashgrab aping both Star Wars and Mad Max, but does it deserve to linger in the Oubliette forever? Find out!

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Cronos (with Isaac Sutton)

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 23:00:00 GMT

We're back! For our first episode of 2023, we're joined by our good friend Isaac Sutton, who invites us to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Guillermo del Toro's first feature film: the Christmas/New Year steampunk vampire tale, Cronos. As the great man explained, a director's first feature sets out their cinematic universe – and this is never more true than in this case. We have a mute central character, a child and a grandfatherly figure, a mystical insect, and the humans are the real monsters. Oh, and Ron Perlman. You gotta have Ron Perlman! But should it be granted eternal life or should it be locked away in an angelic statue and forgotten by all except GdT aficionados? Find out!

Follow Isaac Sutton on Twitter and check out his new Melee Mythos YouTube channel!

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Santa Claus: The Movie (with Simon Barber)

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 23:00:00 GMT

Simon Barber, co-host of the Sodajerker on Songwriting podcast, joins us for our festive finale to 2022: and it's a doozy! The producing team behind the original Superman: The Movie (1978), its first two sequels and the spin-off Supergirl (1984) turned their attention to another origin story for a much-loved supernatural hero in 1985, and brought us Santa Claus: The Movie. Featuring Dudley Moore as a cheery elf determined to modernise the North Pole, David Huddlestone as the titular jolly gift-giver and scenery-munching John Lithgow as the nefarious business tycoon B.Z., the film has everything you could ever want in seasonal family adventure. Highlights include abducting homeless children to take them on flying reindeer joyrides with dangerous manoeuvres near the Twin Towers in Manhattan, John Lithgow screaming "FOR FREE?!!" and turning beetroot red when Dudley Moore attempts to explain the act of giving a gift, and Aled Jones singing on a glorious soundtrack by Henry Mancini. But is it the gift that keeps on giving, or is it failed super-dooper looper? Find out!

Follow Simon Barber on Twitter, if it still exists, and visit the Sodajerker website.

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The Hallow

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad venture into the deep dark woods of Ireland and explore Corin Hardy's The Hallow (2015), where British conservationist Adam and his wife Claire come under attack from ancient faerie folk, parasitic fungus and – worst of all – unpleasant monosyllabic locals. It's a love letter to the director's favourite genre icons and delightfully practical in its execution, and was largely overlooked in the folk horror booms of the 2010s. But crucially, is it any good? Find out!

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Elvira: Mistress of the Dark

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 23:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan are exposed to Elvira for the very first time in this Patreon's Choice episode, and watch with delight as the busty horror movie host scandalises the small, conservative town she visits in search of her past... and the money she needs to fund her Vegas debut. Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) stars Cassandra Peterson as the irrepressible Elvira, E. Morgan Sheppard as her scheming great uncle Vinnie, Daniel Green as the naive town hunk, Bob, and Edie McClurg as the hilariously shrewish Chastity Pariah. It's the kind of comedy they don't make any more, but it that a sad or a good thing? Does Elvira work for a dumbfounded international audience? Find out!

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Strange Days (with Joe Lipsett)

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Joe Lipsett, film critic and co-host of Horror Queers, joins us on the eve of the millennium for some Strange Days (1995) with Ralph Fiennes, who saunters about in leather trousers, Juliette Lewis, who wears nothing most of the time, Tom Sizemore, who sports a very unfortunate wig, and Angela Bassett who... well, just kicks ass frankly. It's a cyberpunk Blow Out, with Fiennes' burned out ex-cop unwittingly getting hold of evidence of a politically significant murder that could destroy L.A. – if it weren't a burning hellscape already. Featuring the groundbreaking technology of recording human experiences directly from the cerebral cortex onto Sony MiniDiscs, the film is a hard-hitting techno thriller from Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow, based on a story by her ex-husband James Cameron. But does it stand the test of time, or is it a millennium bug we should just patch? Find out!

Follow Joe Lipsett on Twitter, read his columns at Bloody Disgusting and subscribe to Horror Queers now! Because he's awesome!

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Practical Magic (with Lotta Losten)

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Happy spooky season! Actor and producer Lotta Losten makes a welcome return to the oubliette for our Halloween Special and weaves some Practical Magic on us! This bewitching rom-com, starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as the enchanting Owens sisters, failed to cast a spell on the box office when it was released during this week 24 years ago (!), but has found a special place in the hearts of many viewers since. Should it be given a broomstick and allowed to soar off the roof this Halloween, or should it be banished from the world like a warty toad? Find out!

Follow Lotta Losten on Instagram and look out for Shazam! Fury of the Gods next March!

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Battle Beyond the Stars (with Michael French)

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 22:00:00 GMT

RetroBlasting's Michael French beams Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) out of the oubliette and forces Conrad and Dan to explore this sci-fi riff on The Seven Samurai (1954) starring Richard Thomas, Robert Vaughn, George Peppard, John Saxon, Sybil Danning and Darlanne Fleugel. It's exploitation entrepreneur Roger Corman's transparent attempt to cash-in on the Star Wars phenomenon, with a naive farm boy blasting into space to find mercenaries who will protect his peace loving, beige-wearing planet from the evil Sador and his planet-killing superweapon. But crucially, is it any good? And what does Michael make of it? Find out!

Visit RetroBlasting on YouTube! Follow them on Twitter and Facebook!

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The Lair of the White Worm (with Lars Henriks)

Mon, 19 Sep 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Actor, filmmaker and theatre director Lars Henriks makes a return visit to the oubliette and plucks out Ken Russell's 1988 adaptation of Bram Stoker's The Lair of the White Worm. And what a sight it is to behold: future timelord, Peter Capaldi, charms a vampire/snake monster by playing the bagpipes in regulation kilt; a pre-Four Weddings Hugh Grant chops a woman in half with a broadsword; and the stunning but bewildering Amanda Donohoe drowns a Boy Scout in her jacuzzi and slinks around in snake-themed fetish wear. But crucially, is it actually any good? Find out!

Follow Lars Henriks on TikTok, read his reviews on Letterboxd or look at him on Instagram! And check out his new film Covid Metamorphosen – a Christmas romcom that could easily be published in 'Weird Tales' – available for a limited time on Vimeo!

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Wolfen (with Serge Bodnarchuk)

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Serge Bodnarchuk of Cold Crash Pictures joins us as we explore a wild time in New York City's history: the 1980s! Back then, real estate moguls and their fur-and-pearls-wearing wives were savaged in Battery Park by an unknown, monstrous assailant. Luckily, Albert Finney, Diane Venora and Gregory Hines are on hand to solve the case and uncover the secret of Wolfen – a non-werewolf movie released in 1981, the year of the werewolf movie, and directed by Woodstock documentarian Michael Wadleigh in what would be his first... and last... feature film. But is it any good, or is it a shaggy dog tale? Find out!

Follow Serge on Twitter and check out Cold Crash Pictures on Youtube!

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The Thing With Two Heads (with Tom Woodruff, Jr)

Mon, 22 Aug 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Oscar-winning special effects genius Tom Woodruff, Jr joins us and takes us on a whirlwind tour of his first steps into the wonderful world of monster movies via The Thing With Two Heads (1972) – a blaxploitation sci-fi adventure starring Ray Milland as a racist mad scientist hellbent on perfecting his head transplanting technique before he succumbs to a terminal illness, and Rosey Grier as the innocent death row inmate who unwittingly volunteers for his experiments. The result? About three reels of cars chases with Grier gamefully dirt biking with Milland's head sellotaped to his shoulder. The film itself might not be a masterpiece, but it has a surprising number of connections to Tom's career... and many of them involve gorilla suits!

Follow Tom on Instagram!

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Waterworld (with Mikey Neumann and Zoe Wells)

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Mikey Neumann and Zoe Wells of FilmJoy join us as we scoop up Kevin Costner's sci-fi action adventure Waterworld (1995) from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Yes, it's the film that reunited him with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) director Kevin Reynolds and then, $175 million dollars and a box office bomb later, caused their second acrimonious split. But can a film with Dennis Hopper in an eye patch be all that bad? Is Jeanne Tripplehorn playing a character or is she merely extant? Is a central character irredeemable if he hurls a small child into the ocean? Find out!

Check out FilmJoy on the YouTubes and follow Zoe and Mikey on the Tweets!

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The Sender

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Conrad shows Dan the little-seen supernatural psychological drama, The Sender (1982) – a British production starring Kathryn Harrold, Željko Ivanek, Shirley Knight and Paul 'Belloq' Freeman, and directed by Oscar-winning production designer Roger Christian. Ivanek plays John Doe 83, a mysterious young man admitted to a psychiatric hospital after walking into the sea with rocks in his pockets. Suffering from amnesia, but obviously the victim of some trauma, Doe fascinates Dr Gail Farmer (Harrold), who discovers the boy is able to project his nightmares into other people's minds. Who is he? Who is the mysterious woman who keeps appearing randomly and claiming to be his mother? And is this film obscure for a good reason? Find out!

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City of Ember

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad slip into some chunky knit sweaters and go underground to explore City of Ember (2008), a post-apocalyptic science fantasy starring Harry Treadaway, Saoirse Ronan, Bill Murray and Tim Robbins. Based on a popular series of novels by Jeanne DuPrau, which became the focus of an intense bidding war when it came time for the film adaptation, the film seems to presage the explosion of young adult dystopian adventures that would follow in the wake of The Hunger Games in the 2010s. But should the film be rekindled, or should the ember be extinguished in the oubliette forever? Find out!

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Dead Heat – Iconicon Special (with Matt Swaford of Endless Bullets)

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Matt Swaford of the Endless Bullets: The Action Movie Podcast joins us for this special Iconicon 2022 crossover event, and brings with him a buddy cop zombie action movie we've never heard of: Dead Heat (1988). It stars Treat Williams, Joe Piscopo, Lindsay Frost and Vincent Price – yes, you read that right – is directed by legendary editor Mark Goldblatt (The Terminator) and written by Terry Black (brother of Shane 'Die Hard' Black), with incredible special effects by Steve Johnson. But is it a gem that should be reanimated in Vincent's resurrection machine, or a deservedly forgotten relic that should dissolve into human slime? Find out!

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Johnny Mnemonic

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 22:00:00 GMT

In a childhood nostalgia special, Dan revisits Johnny Mnemonic (1995) – the other cyberpunk action thriller Keanu Reeves made in the 90s after hitting the big time in Speed (1994). It's the one everyone forgets. Maybe our cybernetic implants were loaded with more than 320GB of data, like Keanu's black market data courier, Johnny? Directed by artist Robert Longo in his debut (and so far only) mainstream film and based on a short story and screenplay by cyberpunk grandaddy William Gibson, this bizarre footnote features Dolph Lundgren as an evangelical street preacher/cybernetically enhanced assassin, Takeshi Kitano as a big Pharma bad guy, Dina Meyer as a streetsmart bodyguard and Ice-T as the leader of an underground organisation called the 'Lo-Teks'. Oh, and Henry Rollins is a doctor, Udo Kier is a small time crime boss and there's a cybernetic dolphin in the mix somewhere. It's the kind of thing that could only have happened in 1995... but is that a bad thing? Find out!

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Shocker (with Melinda Mock)

Mon, 30 May 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Melinda Mock of RetroBlasting joins us to revisit one of her teenage favourites: Wes Craven's Shocker (1989) – a bizarre attempt to create a new slasher franchise with The X-Files' Mitch Pileggi as psychotic serial killer Horace Pinker, who gains supernatural possession abilities after being executed in the electric chair. Future director Peter Berg plays a college football star player whose adoptive family and girlfriend fall victim to Pinker's homicidal urges. Can he figure out how to stop the electrically charged menace before he strikes again? Can he do it with a late 80s hair metal soundtrack raging in the background? And is this a hidden gem overshadowed by Craven's monumental franchises? Find out!

Follow RetroBlasting at www.retroblasting.com, on YouTube or Twitter.

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Lady in the Water

Mon, 16 May 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad were spelunking in the oubliette's indoor pool and resurfaced M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water (2006), a fairy tale for adults starring Paul Giamatti as a melancholy caretaker in an apartment building who discovers a 'narf' in the community swimming pool. That might sound like a euphemism for something revolting, but it turns out to be an ethereal nymph-like creature played by Bryce Dallas Howard, whose mission is to inspire a great writer to create a work that will change the world before she is ravaged by magical wolves called 'scrunts'. In a questionable move, the director casts himself in the role of the inspirational writer, and various fantasy hijinks ensue. The film is widely regarded as part of Shyamalan's precipitous downfall after his smash hit The Sixth Sense (1999), but is it as bad as people think, or does it deserve a re-evaluation? Find out!

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Conquest of Space

Mon, 02 May 2022 22:00:00 GMT

For our 101st episode, we're covering our oldest film yet: 1955's Conquest of Space, the speculative science fiction adventure from the producer/director team that brought us the seminal War of the Worlds two years before. It's widely thought that George Pal and Byron Haskin's depiction of the first manned mission to Mars – crucially brought to the screen 6 years before we got off the planet and 14 years before we got to the moon – was a heavy influence on the sci-fi genre and Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in particular. But is it any good? Find out!

The film for this episode was graciously donated by Via Vision, who Imprint label releases amazing special editions of cult classics for collectors to enjoy. Check them out!

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The Rocketeer

Mon, 04 Apr 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan strap on asbestos leggings and propel themselves back in time to 1991 for the nostalgic family action/adventure The Rocketeer. Set in the Art Deco glamour of 1938 Los Angeles, it stars Bill Campbell as the daredevil pilot who stumbles upon a prototype jetpack and puts himself and his partner, Jenny (the breathtaking Jennifer Connolly), in the crosshairs of a mob gang lead by Paul Sorvino and the Nazis, led by secret spy and silver screen icon Neville (dashing but dangerous Timothy Dalton, in one of his first post-Bond roles). It has an adventuresome score by James Horner, VFX by ILM and is helmed by ILM-alumni and future Captain America director Joe Johnston. But why didn't it take off in 1991? And does it soar now? Find out!

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Nightbreed (with Heather Wixson)

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Heather Wixson, Managing Editor of Daily Dead and author of Monsters, Makeup and Effects – Volume 1, joins us on a tour of Clive Barker's sophomore film Nightbreed, a dark fantasy horror film based on his novella Cabal and starring Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby, director David Cronenberg as a suave serial killer (!), Hugh Quarshie and Doug Bradley. The film notoriously flopped on release in 1990, largely thanks to studio malarkey, reshoots and a compromised theatrical cut... but does the recently restored director's cut reveal a hidden gem of a movie? Is it a mysterious but beautiful freak living undiscovered in an underground city? Find out!

Check out Heather Wixson on Twitter, buy her book Monsters, Makeup and Effects and get all your horror entertainment news from Daily Dead.

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The Lawnmower Man

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad don their tightest neon cycling outfits and strap themselves into a gyroscope to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Lawnmower Man. Directed by Brett Leonard and starring a pre-Bond Pierce Brosnan as a neuro-scientist and Jeff Fahey as his gardener and unwitting lab rat, the film is most definitely not based on anything written by one of the most famous horror authors of all time. Certainly not after the lawsuit. It's a classic tale of a well-intentioned scientist whose combination of nootropic drugs and virtual reality gaming sessions results in a vengeful telekinetic cyber god. But do its ground-breaking CGI sequences and subtle character development stand the test of time, or should it be relegated to a landfill in China, alongside floppy disc drives and novelty mice? Find out!

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The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad retreat back to their comfort zone of 80s cheese, only to be confronted by the relentless exuberant strangeness of W.D. Richter's The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984). It has an incredible cast. Peter Weller stars the titular Buckaroo – a daredevil neuroscientist particle physicist new romantic rock star and secret agent – with none other than Jeff Goldblum and Clancy Brown in his A-Team like crew. Ranged against them are John Lithgow as an alien-possessed Italian scientist and Christopher Lloyd as his side-kick John Bigbooty (it's pronounced Bigbooté!). Nothing could prepare them for the dense, unfathomable world building of this anarchic sci-fi romp, but crucially... is it actually any good? Or it is just a relic of the cocaine-fuelled 80s? Find out!

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Crypt of the Vampire

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 23:00:00 GMT

We're delving into new territory, thanks to our Patrons' nominations of a wide selection of pre-80s films! In this episode, we're looking at Crypt of the Vampire – a 1964 Italian/Spanish gothic horror movie based on Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 novel Carmilla and starring the iconic Christopher Lee in a fetching dressing gown. It's got castles, thunderstorms, suits of armour, drippy candles, satanic rituals that involve lying naked face down on a marble floor (not great for the nips), lesbian eroticism, decidedly 60s eyeliner and some fantastic dream sequences. But does it make any sense? Does it actually have in vampires in it? Find out!

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The Mothman Prophecies (featuring Mark Pellington)

Mon, 24 Jan 2022 23:00:00 GMT

Director Mark Pellington joins us to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of The Mothman Prophecies, a quietly disturbing supernatural thriller starring Richard Gere as a grief-stricken journalist who finds himself in a small West Virginia town helping a local police officer, Laura Linney, investigate a series of escalating unexplainable events. Based on a true account of a tragic disaster in Point Pleasant, the film's unique visual and audio style was hugely influential, but how does it hold up 20 years later? Find out!

Follow Mark Pellington on Twitter and be sure to check out his new dance film The Severing, with premieres at the Slamdance Film Festival this week!

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Firestarter (with Felicia Lobo)

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 23:00:00 GMT

We're celebrating the New Year with literal fireworks, re-igniting the smouldering embers of Firestarter (1984). It stars a very young Drew Barrymore as a pyrokinetic super child on the run with her psychic 'pusher' dad (David Keith... definitely not to be confused with Keith David). They're trying to escape shady government types like Martin Sheen, reprising his role from The Dead Zone as a power-crazed authoritarian, who wants to turn little Charlie into a weapon, and ethnically inappropriate George C. Scott as John 'Rain Bird', who wants to karate chop her nose into her brain while stealing her powers or something. Because he's native. Erm... Thank goodness we're joined by Felicia Lobo of the Girly Gore YouTube channel and Sinister Sisters podcast to help us navigate the conflagration of this often-overlooked Stephen King adaptation! But is it a hot classic or a dumpster fire? Find out!

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Deadly Games (with Duncan Skiles)

Mon, 13 Dec 2021 23:00:00 GMT

Duncan Skiles, director of The Clovehitch Killer, returns for our special festive episode, in which we review a yuletide tale of a plucky kid who uses booby traps to repel a home invasion. No – not that one! It's the French horror/thriller Deadly Games (1989) – also known as 3615 code Père Noël and about a dozen other titles. It was released a year before Home Alone and is a lot darker. As in 'irreparable child trauma' darker. But bizarrely, it also features a cute grandpa and a gauzy montage set to an original Bonnie Tyler Christmas song. But is it a delightful, previously unwrapped Christmas gift or is it a bag of coal? Find out! And have yourself a happy, happy holiday season and a fantastic New Year!

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Snow White: A Tale of Terror

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 23:00:00 GMT

What if the classic fairy tale were laced with complex psycho-sexual drama between the king, the stepmother and the child cosplaying as her dead mum? What if the dwarves were mostly full-sized, scarred outlaws fleeing religious persecution? What if it starred Sigourney Weaver and Sam Neill and was full of 90s gothic intensity? We're about to find out as we explore 1997's Snow White: A Tale of Terror – an attempt to cash in on the success of Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) that got eviscerated in post-production and dumped on cable TV. Is it a dark, glistening gem that should be rescued from the oubliette or an unsalvageable train wreck? Find out!

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Starman

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 23:00:00 GMT

In a special Patrons' Choice episode, we take a look back at Starman (1984), John Carpenter's romantic sci-fi fable starring Jeff Bridges in an Oscar-nominated role as a visiting alien and Karen Allen as the widow whose husband he impersonates. Kicking off with a disturbing alien birth sequence that showcases the combined talents of Rick Baker, Stan Winston and Dick Smith (yes, you read that right), Starman shifts gears into a road movie with a fish-out-of-water comedy and an odd couple romance thrown into the mix. But does it hold up 37 years later? Does it point towards a more nuanced career for the 'Master of Horror' that was not to be? Or does it collapse under its disturbing abduction romance tropes and reliance on post-ET sentimentality? Find out!

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Fire in the Sky

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad are swept away by the 1993 science fiction mystery Fire in the Sky, which is based on Arizonan logger Travis Walton's personal account of an alien abduction experience in 1975. Starring D. B. Sweeney (Memphis Belle), Robert Patrick (the T-1000 in T2), Craig Sheffer (Nightbreed), Peter Berg (Wes Craven's Shocker), Henry Thomas (Elliott from E.T. no less!) and veteran James Garner, and featuring jaw-dropping special effects from Industrial Light and Magic from the same year they were working on Jurassic Park, this film failed to reached its audience... or more accurately, it's audience failed to reach it because of a freak snowstorm across the US on its opening weekend. But is it a hidden gem with a serious exploration of the abduction phenomenon, or is it an uneven mix of drama and heavy hitting fantasy effects? Find out!

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The Taking of Deborah Logan (featuring Michelle Ang)

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Happy Halloween! Emmy-nominated actor Michelle Ang (The Tribe, Outrageous Fortune) joins us as we celebrate the spooky season with a look back at The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014), a found footage possession thriller directed by Adam Robitel (Escape Room). In it, our guest plays a student, Mia, who gets more than she bargained for when she tries to make a documentary focusing on Deborah Logan (Jill Larson), a sufferer of Alzheimers. As Deborah's behaviour becomes more disturbing and strange events plague the house, Mia joins forces with the patient's daughter, Sarah (Anne Ramsay), to uncover the town's dark secret, and a shadowy force that may be trying to complete its terrifying reign of terror from beyond the grave! But is this an undiscovered thrilling gem or forgettable found footage fodder? Find out!

Follow our special guest, Michelle Ang, on Twitter and Instagram.

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Spookies (with Meagan Navarro)

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Meagan Navarro – Head Critic and Chief Content Creator for Bloody Disgusting – returns with a special treat for us to explore: the 1986 haunted house monster zombie horror film Spookies. With three directors, two separate casts, a reshoot that accounts for more footage than the original film and a plot that defies explanation, it's fair to say the story behind the movie is more compelling than the story in the movie. But is there a hidden gem in here or just a cautionary tale? Find out!

Follow Meagan on Twitter and Bloody Disgusting!

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Paperhouse (featuring Bernard Rose)

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Director Bernard Rose joins us for a look back at his first theatrical feature film, the dark fantasy Paperhouse (1988). It features Charlotte Burke as a British schoolgirl who, while bedridden with glandular fever (or 'mono' for those across the pond), finds herself experiencing recurring dreams in which she visits an isolated house she drew herself. She soon discovers that she can add additional things to the drawing and they appear in the house, but sometimes they don't come out as benign as she intended... An atmospheric, stark film that dissolves the boundaries between dream and reality, Paperhouse bears all the hallmarks of the director who would bring us Candyman (1992) a few years later. But is it a dream to treasure or a nightmare best forgotten? Find out!

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Reign of Fire

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan are doing battle with dragons again, but this time it's in London during the fateful futuristic year 2020. Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale and Gerard Butler – possibly the manliest of manly line-ups cinema could produce in 2002 – are joined by ace helicopter pilot Izabella Scorupco in Reign of Fire. It's a post-dragon apocalypse and mankind is reduced to living in castles, riding horseback, wearing sackcloth and mounting community theatre productions of The Empire Strikes Back to entertain frightened children. Can brash, tank-riding American Denton Van Zan and cautious, world-weary Brit Quinn learn to cooperate to defeat the horde of winged serpents that rains fire down from the sky? Will everything be alright, alright, alright? Or will this be the smouldering husk of a noughties CGI-fest? Find out!

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Ghosts of Mars (featuring Sandy King-Carpenter)

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 22:00:00 GMT

John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars is celebrating its 20th anniversary today, and we're lucky enough to be joined by its producer, Sandy King-Carpenter of Storm King Productions, for a look back at the master of horror's sci-fi horror action extravaganza. It's got a kick-ass cast of Natasha Henstridge, Pam Grier, Clea DuVall and Joanna Cassidy, plus Ice Cube and a very young and strangely hairy Jason Statham! But is this tale of a mysterious fog assimilating humans and mounting an assault on a precinct a fun Carpenter mash-up, or is it best left buried on the red planet? Find out!

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The Quiet Earth (with Serge Bodnarchuk)

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Serge Bodnarchuk of Cold Crash Pictures joins us to explore... New Zealand! Yes, Dan's homeland – but it's a bizarre alternate universe version of NZ, and not just because it's 1985. Zac Hobson wakes up naked in a motel bed to discover he may be the last man on Earth. He gets to engage in a few fantasies: driving a train, moving into a mansion, running rampant through a church wearing a nightie and brandishing a shotgun... until he meets Joanne and Api. The three quickly discover the commonality between them that could unlock the mystery of the quiet Earth, but is Zac secretly responsible for what happened? And is it going to happen again and erase them all? We wander this largely forgotten land to decide if this little-seen sci-fi gem from down under should be out and proud in its nightie!

Subscribe to Serge's YouTube channel and follow him on Twitter and Instagram

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Silent Running

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Space botanist Bruce Dern murders his crewmates and hijacks his spaceship on a joyride through Saturns rings after he finds out his gardens are scheduled for destruction in Silent Running (1972), an eco-sci-fi film directed by special effects mastermind Douglas Trumbull. But will Dan and Conrad slip into a comfortable bathrobe and enjoy digging into this 70s cult classic, or will Joan Baez's vibrato drive them into a Dern-style, wide-eyed mania? Find out!

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Leviathan (1989) – Iconicon Special (with Dreamland)

Sun, 11 Jul 2021 09:30:00 GMT

Melinda Mock and Aaron Harper of Dreamland, the RetroBlasting podcast, join us for the second half of our Iconicon crossover event! We're exploring one of the lesser-known underwater sci-fi epics released in 1989: Leviathan. It's directed by George P. Cosmatos (Rambo II), stars Peter Weller (RoboCop) and Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters), has special effects by Stan Winston (Aliens) and a score by Jerry Goldsmith (Alien). With that pedigree, what could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot, it turns out. Easily one of the most hilarious episodes we've ever recorded – check it out!

Follow Dreamland's exploits at http://www.retroblasting.com/dreamland

Find out more about Iconicon at https://www.iconicononline.com

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The Andromeda Strain (with Isaac Sutton)

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 22:00:00 GMT

It's killer virus time again! Isaac Sutton, writer and film blogger, joins us as we explore The Andromeda Strain (1971) – Robert Wise's adaptation of Michael Crichton's first best-selling techno thriller novel. It has all the ingredients of a great night out: a deadly epidemic from space; crotchety scientists in an underground lab; screen after screen of diagrams and data; and shocking amounts of monkey torture. But is it a forgotten yet timely sci-fi nailbiter or a tedious PowerPoint presentation? Find out!

Check out Issac's work at www.isaaclastname.com and follow his non-pregnancy porn YouTube channel.

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Viy (with Lars Henriks)

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Lars Henriks, filmmaker and host of the Mysterium Pictorum podcast, joins us to explore the first and possibly only horror film made in Russia during the Soviet era: Viy (1967). It's a retelling of Nikolai Gogal's classic but probably fake folktale, which also inspired Mario Bava's Black Sunday (1960) and a recent Russian-Chinese CGI-fest that has a sequel starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan. No, we're not making that up – Google it! It tells the tale of a feckless seminary student who is called to hold a vigil over the body of a young girl for three nights, during with increasingly terrifying, coffin-surfing things occur to test his faith. Is it a relatively undiscovered jewel of spooky Soviet cinema or an unfathomable unorthodox oddity? Find out!

Find out more about Lars Henriks at www.larshenriks.de

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Byzantium

Mon, 31 May 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Neil Jordan's second and often overlooked venture into vampire lore, Byzantium (2012), features Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton as daughter and mum succreants who have been on the run from centuries. They settle on a dilapidated coastal town and quickly join in with local hobbies to blend in: daughter Ellie begins a romance with a waiter (Caleb Landry Jones) and takes up creative writing; mum Clara opens a brothel. But will they elude The Pointed Nail of Justice? Will Caleb settle on a regional accent? And does the film deserve to be immortalised? Find out!

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Night of the Comet (with Melinda Mock)

Mon, 17 May 2021 22:00:00 GMT

RetroBlasting co-founder and Dreamland podcast co-host Melinda Mock guides us through the red-tinged comet zombie apocalypse of Night of the Comet – a 1984 cult sci-fi comedy horror written and directed by Thom Eberhardt and starring former guests Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney, with Robert Beltran, Mary Woronov and Geoffrey Lewis. But did these valley girls inspire many of the resourceful, capable action heroines (in cheerleading outfits) that followed, or is this a Mach-10 misfire? Find out!

Follow RetroBlasting on Youtube and listen in to the Dreamland podcast now!

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Maniac Cop (1988)

Mon, 03 May 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad hit the crime-ridden streets of 80s New York, only to be menaced by a Maniac Cop – an action/slasher hybrid starring Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon, Richard Roundtree and Robert Z'Dar. With a screenplay by Larry Cohen, one might expect William Lustig's film to have a little more bubbling under the surface of this low-budget quickie about a zombie Dirty Harry menacing the streets at night. Certainly, the themes of police brutality and homicide without consequences feel disturbingly timely, but is the film itself an under-appreciated classic or a forgettable VHS video rental? Find out!

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Toys (with Jonathan McIntosh)

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Jonathan McIntosh, creator of the Pop Culture Detective Agency, joins us to explore Barry Levinson's 1992 fantasy/comedy Toys, which features Robin Williams as the childlike son of an eccentric toymaker, Joan Cusack as his manic pixie sister, Robin Wright as his manic pixie love interest, Michael Gambon as his militaristic uncle and LL Cool J as his camouflage-obsessed cousin. This modern fable about the incursion of the military industrial complex into the sacred innocence of childhood imagination has wildly surrealistic visuals and an inventive soundtrack from legendary composer Hans Zimmer and legendary pop producer Trevor Horn, but does it bear up to scrutiny almost 30 years later? Find out!

You can check out Jonathan McIntosh's YouTube channel for mind-blowingly insightful video essays and support his work via Patreon.

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Coherence (with Brian Sheehan)

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Brian Sheehan of TV Trivia Pod joins us for a dinner party in which four couples have to contend with a comet flyby, the fracturing of reality into multiple dimensions and... just a whisper of ketamine. It's James Ward Byrkit's surreal sci-fi thriller Coherence (2013), starring Emily Baldoni, Nicolas Brendon and Nicolas Brendon's twin brother, Kelly Donovan. But is it a pioneering, low budget/high concept classic or is it a befuddling mirror universe? Find out!

Check out, follow and support Brian's TV Trivia Pod via his Link Tree.

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Outland (with Michael French)

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 22:00:00 GMT

RetroBlasting's Michael French joins us as we venture into Outland (1981), Peter Hyams' sci-fi thriller loosely based on High Noon and starring none other than the late Sean Connery and the great Frances Sternhagen. It's a tense tale of one man's fight against a corrupt system, laced with explosive decompression and enough blue-collar snark to fill a saloon. But is it a previously unmined gem or should it be blown out of an airlock into the frozen wastes of Io? Find out!

Follow RetroBlasting on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and everywhere else because they're awesome!

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Season of the Witch (2011)

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad go on a quest to rediscover Season of the Witch (2011), a supernatural medieval adventure starring Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman as crusaders with a conscience, charged with safely transporting a young Claire Foy to a monastery where she'll stand trial for witchcraft in general and causing the Black Death in particular. They're joined by a merry band that includes The Umbrella Academy's Robert Sheehan, Foy's then future/now past husband Stephen Campbell More and Stephen Graham, all sporting a range of mid-Atlantic accents regardless of their provenance. Is this forgotten Dominic Sena actioner a spellbinding grail or a bubonic boil waiting to be lanced? Does it at least have any classic Cage moments? Find out!

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A Perfect Murder (with Joe Lipsett)

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 23:00:00 GMT

Bloody Disgusting's Joe Lispett joins us to share his love of 90s erotic thrillers and revisit one of the most-overlooked entries in the genre: A Perfect Murder (1998), Andrew Davis's remake of Hitchcock's Dial 'M' for Murder starring the obligatory Michael Douglas, the permanently gaslit Gwyneth Paltrow and steamy pre-Aragorn Viggo Mortensen. It's a twisty turny tale of sex, inheritances, Chernobyl-level stock market meltdowns and murder with a meat thermometer – but does it deserve to get away from the oubliette scot-free or should it be permanently lost along with Gwyneth's apartment key?

Follow Joe Lipsett on Twitter, check out his podcast Horror Queers and read his writings on Bloody Disgusting. Because he's awesomesauce.

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My Bloody Valentine (1981)

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 04:40:42 GMT

We're getting all romantic this week, in honour of Valentine's Day, and celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Canadian slasher 'My Bloody Valentine' – a film that vanished into a deep dark mine upon its release, possibly thanks to the heavy hand of the MPAA in the editing room. It features a mining town cursed by a legendary tragedy, Moosehead Beer and a returning killer who's a cross between Darth Vader, Michael Myers and the Cadbury Milk Tray Man. But does it deserve to be unearthed and recut into a gleaming diamond, or should it be tossed aside like a cheap box of chocolates?

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Hackers (with Le Matos)

Mon, 25 Jan 2021 23:00:00 GMT

Le Matos, the musical masterminds behind the scores for Turbo Kid and Summer of '84, join us as we take a nostalgic trip back to the high school cyber crime scene of the mid-90s... on roller-blades, of course. Yes, it's Hackers – the film that introduced us to viruses (of the electronic kind), pre-Trainspotting Johnny Lee Miller, pre-Scream Matthew Lillard and pre-anything Angelina Jolie! But is it a righteous hack or an obsolete peripheral?

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Rogue

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 23:00:00 GMT

Happy New Year! Dan and Conrad start 2021 with something that feels like unbelievable fantasy: a movie in which someone travels to another country! It's Rogue – a 2007 monster crocodile thriller from director Greg McLean (Wolf Creek). It stars Radha Mitchell (Pitch Black) as the plucky captain of a crocodile river cruise in Oz's Northern Territory. She gives a boatful of tourists more than they bargained for when they get stranded on an islet in a tidal river patrolled by a 7-meter croc who gets extremely touchy about people invading his territory. As night falls and the water rises, the mismatched bunch – including American travel writer Michael Vartan (One Hour Photo), future Avatar star Sam Worthington and a young Mia Wasikowska (Crimson Peak) – have to hatch a plan to escape before the man-eater picks them off one by one. But is this aquatic terror an undiscovered gem in the wilderness or a waterlogged stinker? Find out!

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One Magic Christmas: Cast and Composer Interview Special

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 23:00:00 GMT

Happy holidays, listeners! As a little treat, we'd like to give you a bonus episode for the holiday season: a collection of interviews with the cast and composer of Disney's One Magic Christmas. It includes a full version of our chat with the lovely Elisabeth Harnois, who played Abbie Grainger, as well as new interviews with Rob Magwood, who played her older brother, Cal, and the celebrated composer Michael Conway Baker, who provided the score. All of them were a delight to speak to and so generous with their time, sharing hilarious and heartwarming memories from the making of the movie.

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, sharing time with loved ones however you can while keeping safe. We can't wait to share more with you again in the New Year!
– Dan and Conrad

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One Magic Christmas (featuring Elisabeth Harnois)

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 23:00:00 GMT

To get a bit of festive cheer, Dan and Conrad explore Disney's One Magic Christmas, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. But this is from Disney's 'dark period', so they're in for a shock. A harmonica-playing stalking angel played by Harry Dean Stanton teaches depressed working mum Ginnie Grainger (Mary Steenburgen) to appreciate the holiday season by forcing her to live a nightmarish alternate Christmas Eve in which her whole family is slaughtered in a bungled bank robbery. We kid you not. For all that, it turns out to be one of Conrad's favourite Christmas movies, and has a social realism and heartwarming message that marks it out from your standard Hallmark special. It also features some stellar performances, including that of special guest Elisabeth Harnois, who shares her memories of playing little Abbie Grainger at the tender age of 5! The result is – dare we say it – quite magical! Happy holidays!

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Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (featuring Andrew Belling)

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad visit the strangely familiar world of Starchaser: The Legend of Orin, a groundbreaking 3D animated sci-fi fantasy adventure celebrating its 35th anniversary this week! It tells the story of a callow blonde youth who discovers a magical sword and goes on a quest to free the galaxy from a tyrannical empire lead by a sinister man with a penchant for black capes and throttling people. They're joined by the composer of the film's lavish score, Andrew Belling, who enthusiastically shares many behind-the-scenes memories and fascinating anecdotes, while being a generally wonderful man. But is the film an undiscovered 80s sci-fi gem or should it be consigned to the VHS bargain bin?

Find out more about Andrew Belling at http://www.morbroproductions.com

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Burnt Offerings (with Scott Drebit)

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 23:00:00 GMT

Scott Drebit, Senior Columnist at Daily Dead, joins us to share Burnt Offerings... which doesn't sound very appetising until you discover it's a 1976 haunted house chiller starring Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Bette Frikkin' Davis and Burgess Meredith, and co-written and directed by Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis. It finds your typical all-American family renting a suspiciously cheap, old dark house in the middle of nowhere and slowly going insane while stuck there over the summer. Sound familiar? Is it the usual family strife or is the house evil? Will the mysterious old lady living in the attic room ever come out? And why is the swimming pool so turbulent? Join us as we tour this forgotten relic to decide if it's a unique fixer upper opportunity or fit to be condemned...

Read Scott Drebit's columns on Daily Dead, or follow him on Twitter.

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Night of the Living Dead (1990) (with Meagan Navarro)

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Happy Halloween! We're going into an extreme form of lockdown with special guest Meagan Navarro, lead critic at Bloody Disgusting, to revisit Tom Savini's remake of Night of the Living Dead, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this week! Starring Patricia Tallman and Tony Todd, this update remodels Romero's classic into a siege thriller for our times, with updated effects, a few twists and a kick-ass Barbara. But is it a worthwhile entry in the zombie apocalypse tradition worth revisiting or is it a shambling, rotten shadow of its former self? Find out!

Check out Meagan Navarro's writings on www.bloodydisgusting.com and follow her on Twitter.

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Rawhead Rex

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad take a trip to Ireland and learn all the customs of quaint village life in 1986: digging up ancient pagan demi-gods, burning their hands on tablecloths and urinating on vicars in graveyards. That's right – we're exploring Rawhead Rex, the first of Clive Barker's Books of Blood stories to be adapted for film. But is it a hitherto unrecognised saint or is it the spawn of evil? Find out!

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Screamers

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan try not to get deja-vu as they watch a rag-tag bunch of futuristic soldiers on an alien planet battling bio-mechanical monsters, discovering a pre-pubescent kid clutching a toy is the only survivor, and getting to the escape ship only to realise there's one more monster to kill! No, it isn't Aliens – it's Screamers (1995). It stars Peter Weller as a grizzled philosophical man of war, Jennifer Rubin as a black market trader who greets people by stripping and sponge-bathing in front of them, and Andy Lauer as a solider called 'Ace'. Based on a Philip K. Dick story and a screenplay by Alien co-writer Dan O'Bannon, this has a serious pedigree – but should it be allowed aboard the escape ship or should it be eviscerated by semi-autonomous buzzsaws?

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Antiviral

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad dose themselves up with Antiviral (2012), Brandon Cronenberg's debut film set in a near future in which celebrity illnesses are the latest must-have consumer product. Forget Gwyneth Paltrow's genital-scented candles, now you can get infected with the athletes' foot she picked up at her pilates class. Starring the fearless and riveting Caleb Landry Jones as a new breed of viral marketer, and Sarah Gadon as the hottest celebrity with the hottest fever, Antiviral is a clinical body horror fashion shoot of glossy black humour. But should it become a global pandemic or should we self-isolate ourselves away from it?

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Intruder

Mon, 31 Aug 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan visit one of the scariest places in the world right now – a suburban grocery store – to check out a lesser-known horror thriller from the creative team behind The Evil Dead movies: Intruder (1989). The night shift staff of Walnut Lake Market are being picked off one by one by a bloodthirsty maniac, but is it the leatherclad bad boy ex-boyfriend of plucky final checkout girl, Jennifer, or someone much more unexpected? Featuring notorious gruesome death sequences and small roles for Sam Raimi, Ted Raimi and Bruce Campbell, is Scott Spiegel's tongue-in-cheek video nasty a bargain bin gem or a footnote in the Book of the Dead?

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The Fourth Kind (with Isaac Sutton)

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 22:00:00 GMT

From the moment the star of the Resident Evil franchise stepped out of a blurry forest screensaver and announced "I am actress Milla Jovovich", Dan and Conrad knew that special guest Isaac Sutton had dredged up a real gem from the oubliette for us to enjoy. The Fourth Kind (2009) is a half found footage, half dramatised, all fictional tale of the innocent all-white townsfolk of Nome, Alaska being plagued by alien abductions. Can Milla Jovovich's hypnotherapy prowess uncover the truth behind these experiences before she is randomly arrested by the town sheriff for... something? Will she too be whisked away by pale tale figures for an evening of anal probing? And, more crucially, is the film as good as the teenaged Isaac thought it was when he watched it at a sleepover? Find out!

Check out Isaac's video essays on Youtube and his bog at www.isaaclastname.com, and follow him on Twitter.

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Krull (with Serge Bodnarchuk)

Mon, 03 Aug 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Serge Bodnarchuk of Cold Crash Pictures joins us on an adventure to the world of Krull (1983) – a unique blend of swashbuckling fantasy and laser blasting science fiction starring Ken Marshall and Lysette Anthony as star-crossed lovers whose wedding is cruelly interrupted by an alien invasion. Armed with the coolest and most impractical weapon ever, our hero teams up with robbers, inept wizards and a cyclops to rescue the damsel. Among his merry band is a young Liam Neeson – before he had a special set of skills. But does Serge's childhood favourite hold up 37 years later? Or should it be cast into the swamp of unconvincing cork chippings?

Check out Serge's amazing YouTube channel and follow him on Twitter.

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The City of Lost Children (with Lotta Losten)

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Actor and producer Lotta Losten (Lights Out, Annabelle: Creation and Shazam!) takes us on a tour of The City of Lost Children (1995), the unique science fantasy film directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. It's a surreal steampunk fever dream featuring a circus strongman, evil conjoined twins and hypnotic mechanical fleas, but does it deserve to be overshadowed by Jeunet's international breakthrough hits Delicatessen and Amélie?

Follow Lotta Losten on Instagram and Twitter, and check out the horror shorts she makes with husband David F. Sandberg on the Ponysmasher Youtube channel.

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Explorers (featuring Robert Picardo)

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Robert Picardo joins us as we celebrate the 35th anniversary of Joe Dante's Explorers, the wistful and wild tale of three school friends who build a spaceship and set off for a close encounter of the Wak-y kind. Featuring the debuts of both Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix, this sci-fi adventure also includes not one but three memorable performances from Robert Picardo. He shares his memories of making this underrated cult classic, the challenges of working in Rob Bottin's elaborate make-up effects and his thoughts on the tonal differences between the film's two halves.

All this, plus our usual review of the film, which is one of Conrad's childhood favourites, but completely alien (pun intended) to Dan. Does it live up to Conrad's hype? Does it have the same effect without the filter of nostalgia goggles?

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Turbo Kid

Mon, 22 Jun 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan set their joy to 11, mount their BMXs and set off to explore the delicious 80s smoothie Turbo Kid, which unbelievably celebrates its 5th anniversary this year. With more retro references than you can shake a gnome stick at, inventive gore and a soundtrack that's screaming to be spun on vinyl, is Turbo Kid the best 80s kids' movie we never had or a relic of a nostalgic wasteland? Find out!

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Vamp (with Heather Wixson)

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad find themselves in the neon purple and green world of Vamp (1986), the often overlooked eighties vampire movie starring Grace Jones, Chris Makepeace, Robert Rusler, Dedee Pfeiffer and Gedde Watanabe. Fortunately, they have an expert to guide them: Heather Wixson, Managing Editor of Daily Dead and co-host of its excellent podcast Corpse Club. Vamp features an indescribable performance by the iconoclastic Jones, cinematography that defined the 80s for a generation of graphic designers and one of the best buddy relationships captured on film... but does it deserve to be resurrected or will it burn into nothingness when brought into the light? Find out!

Follow Heather Wixson on Twitter, read her articles on Daily Dead and check out the Corpse Club podcast!

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The Relic (with Horror Queers)

Mon, 25 May 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Joe Lipsett and Trace Thurman of Horror Queers dig up The Relic (1997) and drag us on a wild museum tour with two of the most unlikeable characters in monster movie history: Penelope Ann Miller, who's so entitled she shrieks about job losses in the middle of the office when someone has the gall to apply for a research grant, and Tom Sizemore as the superstitious cop wearing a raincoat big enough for two. It has Stan Winton creature effects, early CGI, decapitations galore and Linda Hunt in full Edna Mode mode. But should it be restored and put back on display, or shoved back into the archives and never mentioned again?

Check out Joe and Trace's writings on Bloody Disgusting, follow them on Twitter, join their lively Facebook Group and listen to their podcast. Because they're awesome.

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Winter Kills (with Jacob Gentry)

Mon, 11 May 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Jacob Gentry, director of The Signal and Synchronicity, returns with another 70s conspiracy thriller for us to explore: the little-seen, star-studded enigma Winter Kills (1979). It stars Jeff Bridges as the pampered younger brother of an assassinated president, sent on a wild goose chase by his domineering father (John Huston) to discover the identity of the killers. Along the way, he's helped and/or hindered by the likes of Anthony Perkins, Toshiro Mifune and Sterling Hayden. And Elizabeth Taylor has a non-speaking cameo in a flashback. Go figure. The film was funded by weed sales and might make more sense whilst utterly baked, but does it deserve to be let out of our oubliette?

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Flight of the Navigator (with Duncan Skiles)

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Duncan Skiles, director of 'The Clovehitch Killer', returns to discuss a popular source of childhood nostalgia: Disney's Flight of the Navigator (1986). It focuses on David Freeman, who falls into a ravine in 1978 and wakes up 8 years later to discover he hasn't aged, while his parents look like they've been in quarantine the whole time and his bratty little brother is now a 16-year-old hottie who says 'rad' a lot. Everything makes more sense when he's reunited with a UFO shaped like a Guylian chocolate driven by a robot who sounds suspiciously like Pee-Wee Herman and goes on the run from a strangely authoritarian NASA.

This has everything you want in a kid's sci-fi movie: pioneering CGI effects, a giant eyeball that screeches like Yoko Ono and Sarah Jessica Parker hitting on a 12-year-old because he's, you know, technically 20. But does it live up to the fond memories or should it be forgotten forever? Find out by listening! COMPLIANCE!

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The Bird With the Crystal Plumage

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 22:00:00 GMT

To celebrate our 50th episode, Conrad and Dan explore a film that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year: Dario Argento's The Bird With the Crystal Plumage. The Giallo maestro's first outing often gets overlooked in favour of his more supernatural and outlandish masterpieces, but there's a lot of fun to be had here. Highlights include a black-gloved serial killer, a painter who eats cats and the most unprofessional police inspector in movie history. As the latter would say, "Bring in the perverts!"

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Doomsday

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 22:00:00 GMT

For a bit of escapism, Dan and Conrad watch a far-fetched science fiction film in which the UK falls victim to a deadly virus... oh dear. In Doomsday (2008), director Neil Marshall (The Descent) prepares us for what lies ahead: basically, a combination of 28 Days Later, Mad Max and Duran Duran's Wild Boys music video. With a dash of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But should it be given herd immunity and allowed to roam free or should we all socially distance ourselves from it?

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The Serpent and the Rainbow

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad join Bill Pullman on a khaki-clad tour of Haiti in search of a powder that turns people into zombies, in Wes Craven's often overlooked dark fantasy thriller The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988). It has everything you want in a travelog: candlelit processions to a cathedral of waterfalls, exploring a vibrant culture torn by revolution, and getting your scrotum nailed to a chair. Is it an under-appreciated serious work from a director keen to grow beyond his type-casting as a master of horror, or is it a crusty cadaver that should have stayed buried?

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Howard the Duck

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 23:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan discover the first ever Marvel movie in the oubliette, and cannot believe their eyes as the screen is filled with naked feathered breasts, would-be rapists, a sex sauna and Lea Thompson seducing a wildfowl. Yes, it's Howard the Duck (1986) – George Lucas's next project after the Star Wars saga, and it's like an 80s cocaine-fuelled fever dream. But is it actually all that bad? Should it be MCU canon? Join us as we find out.

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Hollow Man

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 23:00:00 GMT

In anticipation of Leigh Whannell's forthcoming horror film The Invisible Man, we take a look back at Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man, which unbelievably celebrates its 20th anniversary this year! Kevin Bacon stars as the arrogant genius Sebastian Caine, who invents an invisibility serum and volunteers to be the first human test subject... only for it to drive him into a naked murder spree. How does the film stand up 20 years on and in a post-Weinstein era? Does it deserve to escape the oubliette?

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Shutter (with Anthony Derington)

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 23:00:00 GMT

Something Ghoulish's Anthony Derington takes us on a tour of our first ever non-English-language horror film: the original version of Shutter (2004) from Thailand! In it, a young couple is terrorised by the spectre of a creepy girl in white with wet black hair – so it may seem like familiar territory for Asian horror fans. But it has quite a sting in the tale... Is it a genre-defining classic or a soggy afterthought?

Check out Something Ghoulish at www.somethingghoulish.com

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House (with Simon Barber)

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 23:00:00 GMT

Sodajerker host Simon Barber takes us on a tour of his favourite House (1986), but it turns out it has a bad case of haunting, alternate dimensions in all the closets and cabinets, and Norm from Cheers lives next door. Norm! Is Steve Miner's first directing venture outside the Friday the 13th franchise ripe for renovation or ready to be condemned? Put on your deep, man cleavage-revealing v-neck sweater, grab a speargun and join us to find out!

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Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (with Matt Conley)

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 23:00:00 GMT

Now that Episode IX is out of the way, you probably think you've seen all of the Star Wars movies. Think again! Matt Conley, Community Director at hitRECord, takes us on a journey to a galaxy far, far away to experience an Ewok spin-off TV movie from 1985 that features everything you expect from the iconic franchise: a shapeshifting witch, a 6-year-old watching her family being murdered, and Wilford Brimley in prescription glasses. Is 'Ewoks: The Battle for Endor' a starry war or a minor shootout best left to obscurity?

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Black Christmas (with Kelli Maroney)

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Kelli Maroney, star of Chopping Mall and Night of the Comet, joins us for a festive retrospective review of the first horror movie she saw in a theater: Black Christmas! The original 1974 slasher thriller has everything you want in seasonal cinema: screaming prank phone calls, unicorn stabbings and plastic bag suffocations! But does it deserve to be rescued from relative obscurity?

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The Dead Zone (with Jonathan King)

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Jonathan King, director of Black Sheep (see episode 11), joins us to explore The Dead Zone (1983) – a Stephen King adaptation directed by David Cronenberg that's often treated as a footnote in both of the horror maestros' careers. Christopher Walken stars as a disturbingly morbid English teacher who becomes even more disturbing after he emerges from a 5-year coma with psychic powers. Does this episodic paranormal drama deserve to escape The Dead Zone or should it be sent back into a coma?

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The Faculty

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan go back to 90s high-school in this listener's choice episode, revisiting Robert Rodriguez's alien invasion thriller The Faculty (1998). It has an eclectic cast, including Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Salma Hayek, Usher and Jon Stewart, and is probably the first teen movie to suggest that drugs are the answer to an alien invasion. Does it deserve to escape the oubliette or should it be left to drown in a sea of loose-fitting blue denim?

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Death Becomes Her (with Don Mancini)

Mon, 28 Oct 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Don Mancini – writer, director and creator of Child's Play – joins us for our Halloween Special, and offers us a bewitching concoction that promises to take you back to your youth: Death Becomes Her (1992), a deliciously dark supernatural comedy starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and something that looks like Bruce Willis but must be an animated special effect because it's emoting too much. Should it sempre viva and live forever, or should it be pushed down a flight of stairs? Join us in our spooky special to find out!

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Sunshine (with Isaac Sutton)

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad investigate a distress signal and discover Isaac Sutton, filmmaker and movie blogger, who diverts their course to investigate Sunshine (2007) – Danny Boyle's largely overlooked but arguably most influential film. It features Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans and Michelle Yeoh among a diverse crew on a mission to restart our ailing sun and save the planet. Eight astronauts strapped to the back of a bomb. But does it bomb? Or did it reignite serious sci-fi?

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Ginger Snaps

Mon, 30 Sep 2019 23:00:00 GMT

"Something's wrong with you. More than you being just... female," says angsty teenager Brigitte to her suddenly feisty, pet-hungry sister in Ginger Snaps – a 2000 Canadian horror film written by Karen Walton and John Fawcett and directed by the latter. Dan and Conrad try desperately to avoid mansplaining while deciding if this is a strangely overlooked landmark in the werewolf genre with a unique perspective on the female experience of puberty and high school... or whether it should be sent back to the oubliette with its hairless tail between its legs.

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MirrorMask

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 23:00:00 GMT

The new Dark Crystal series on Netflix has given us an insatiable appetite for the fantasy worlds of Jim Henson, so we've plucked another of the company's films out of the oubliette. It's the tale of a young girl who argues with her parents and, after making a terrible wish about a family member that shockingly comes true, sets off on an adventure into a wild fantasy world to set the world to rights. No, it's not Labyrinth – it's MirrorMask (2005), written by none other than Neil Gaiman, featuring cutting-edge CGI and set in a post-apocalyptic hellscape: Brighton. What could go wrong? Quite a lot, actually.

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Enemy Mine

Mon, 02 Sep 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad are stranded on an alien planet with Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr. and some remote control turtles. Yes, it's Wolfgang Petersen's 80s sci-fi epic Enemy Mine. Will they learn to get along to survive? Or will they get dragged into what looks suspiciously like the sarlacc pit?

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The Blob (with Duncan Skiles)

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Duncan Skiles, director of 'The Clovehitch Killer', joins us to discuss the 80s remake of 'The Blob', directed by Chuck Russell and co-written by Frank Darabont. It creeps. And leaps. And, indeed, glides and slides. But does this gloopy body horror-infused update of the 50s classic deserve to ooze out of the oubliette?

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Prince of Darkness (with Jeff Palermo)

Mon, 05 Aug 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Jeff Palermo of the SciFi Onscreen podcast invites Conrad and Dan to the basement of an old church, where they discover John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (1987) sealed in a canister of green goo. Is it this combination of quantum physics and biblical disaster a mind-blowing jewel in the horror master's crown, or a forgettable bunch of lame zombie kills in beige corridors?

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Triangle

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad go on a lovely pleasure cruise for a summer break, but find themselves trapped in a (Bermuda) Triangle time-loop purgatory with Melissa George and a barefoot nondescript beach bum who apparently morphed into Liam Hemsworth. Will they escape the twisty psychological terrors of Christopher Smith's sci-fi horror thriller?

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Altered States (with Lance Guest)

Mon, 08 Jul 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Lance Guest, star of Halloween II and The Last Starfighter, join Dan and Conrad as they seal themselves in sensory deprivation tanks and regress to 1980, where they discover the trippy world of Ken Russell's Altered States. William Hurt and Blair Brown play academics who explore the far reaches of human ancestral memory – that is, when they're not interrupting sex to talk about cancer and exploring Mexico in fetching knee socks. Is it a groundbreaking, psychedelic sci-fi or "quantum, friggin' dumb limbo mumbo jumbo!"?

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Innerspace

Mon, 24 Jun 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Let's get small! Dan and Conrad are injected into the butt of the 1987 Spielberg-produced summer blockbuster with the incredible shrinking box office: Joe Dante's Innerspace. Starring Dennis Quaid, Martin Short and Meg Ryan, this sci-fi comedy adventure about an Ant-Man style miniaturisation experiment gone awry has all the ingredients of a crowd-pleasing hit but vanished without trace. Did it deserve its fate, or should Innerspace be re-enlarged for all to see?

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Dragonslayer

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad venture into the lair of Guillermo Del Toro and George R. R. Martin's favourite dragon: Vermithrax Pejorative, the undisputed star of Disney's 1981 fantasy adventure, Dragonslayer. It has everything you want in a family movie: full-frontal male nudity, Emperor Palpatine being torched to a cinder, and a Disney Princess getting her foot gnawed off by a sock puppet. But does it deserve to escape from its lair to terrorise small villages, or should it be felled by an exploding wizard?

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Ravenous (with Serge Bodnarchuk)

Mon, 27 May 2019 23:00:00 GMT

For our first anniversary, we invite back our first ever guest – writer/director Serge Bodnarchuk. He comes in from the cold with a tall tale about Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle and David Arquette being out there somewhere in a forgotten western/horror cannibalism movie called 'Ravenous' (1999), so Dan and Conrad follow him into the icy wilderness after obediently smothering themselves in hot sauce. Will they find it tasty or will it leave them famished?

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In the Mouth of Madness

Mon, 13 May 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad tear up some paperback covers and assemble a map to John Carpenter's "last good film", 1994's 'In the Mouth of Madness'. It's got Sam Neill, Charlton Heston, a naked old man handcuffed to his wife's ankle, and more Lovecraftian cosmic horror than you could shake a tentacle at. But, crucially, is it actually any good?

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Disturbing Behavior

Mon, 29 Apr 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad review listener's choice 90s horror 'Disturbing Behavior', in which twentysomething teenager James Marsden moves to a new town and discovers a Stepford Wives-style conspiracy against delinquent high schoolers. With the help of his new friends, post-Dawson's Creek Katie Holmes and pre-Terminator Nick Stahl, can he avoid becoming one of the squeaky clean Blue Ribbon Group of 50s throwbacks?

Dan gets nostalgic over 90s grunge, while Conrad finds the most disturbing thing is the movie's spelling of the word 'behaviour'. Will they deem GoT veteran director David Nutter's first major movie worthy of release from the oubliette?

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Dead Calm

Mon, 15 Apr 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad celebrate the 30th anniversary of Dead Calm: the first movie in which Billy Zane was unpleasant on a boat. He terrorises a 19-year-old Nicole Kidman and hubby Sam Neill in Phillip Noyce's nautical thriller. Does it hold water or is it a wash out?

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The Hole

Mon, 01 Apr 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad gaze long into the oubliette, and 'The Hole' gazes back at them! It all gets a bit meta as they revisit Joe Dante's sprightly 3D horror extravaganza, which disappeared without a trace in 2009. Do they conquer their worst fears?

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Push (2009)

Mon, 18 Mar 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad are pushed into watching Push (2009), the first ever listener's choice movie from the Oubliette Roulette! It features Chris Evans in his second superhero role as a telekinetic on the run in Hong Kong. Is the film pushing it or are our hosts a pushover?

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Xtro (1982)

Mon, 04 Mar 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Only two British horror films were released in theatres in the 80s. The second was the seminal classic Hellraiser (1987). Alas, the oubliette presents Dan and Conrad with the first: Xtro (1982). It has a shocking alien birth scene, a black panther and a future Bond girl. But is it worth saving from obscurity?

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The Fury (with Jacob Gentry)

Mon, 18 Feb 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Writer/director Jacob Gentry introduces Conrad and Dan to Brian De Palma's The Fury (1978) and tries to convince them that the world needs to see 61-year-old Kirk Douglas's shirtless parkour and Amy Irving exploding people with her mind. Will he win the movie's freedom from the oubliette?

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Phantasm

Mon, 04 Feb 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan venture into Don Coscarelli's dream-like Phantasm (1979) and find themselves dodging flying balls and homicidal jawas in the Tall Man's mausoleum. Is it genre-bending genius or a shaggy gopher-on-heat story?

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Return to Oz

Mon, 21 Jan 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad Return... to Oz! Disney's belated and berated sequel to the beloved musical classic bombed in 1985, but does it deserve a re-evaluation?

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New Year's Ask Me Anything Special

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Happy New Year! In this special end-of-year episode, we take a look back over our first year of podcasting and answer all of your #AskMeAnything questions. Have a great 2019, everyone!

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Space Station 76 (with Manu Intiraymi)

Mon, 24 Dec 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Star Trek: Voyager's Manu Intiraymi joins us for our Christmas special to discuss Space Station 76, a retro-70s sci-fi comedy drama starring Liv Tyler and Patrick Wilson in which a meteor strike threatens to break up the most awkward office Christmas party ever. Do they deserve to escape certain doom and the oubliette?

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Melancholia (with Catherine Mary Stewart)

Mon, 10 Dec 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Catherine Mary Stewart brings Melancholia to the Oublietteers... that is, the Lars von Trier apocalyptic sci-fi drama, not a case of the blues. The gang have more fun talking about depression and the end of the world than one might reasonably expect, but does the film deserve to be set free or should it be set on a planetary collision course with oblivion?

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Ladyhawke

Mon, 26 Nov 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad venture into 80s fantasy Ladyhawke to discover a medieval Ferris Bueller monologuing to God, Rutger Hauer brooding on a dressage horse and Michelle Pfeiffer morphing into a bird of prey. Will they break the curse?

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Cemetery Man (with David Bruckner)

Mon, 12 Nov 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan are joined by director David Bruckner (The Ritual), who resurrects Cemetery Man: a surreal horror comedy gothic romantic fantasy from 1993 starring Rupert Everett. Should it be released from the graveyard?

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Halloween H20

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Happy Halloween! We celebrate the season and our 13th episode by revisiting Halloween H20. Does Jamie Lee Curtis's (first) final battle with Michael Myers stand the test of time, or did it deserve to be retconned?

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The Vanishing (with Travis Milloy)

Mon, 15 Oct 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Conrad dig up The Vanishing (1993), the scorned Hollywood remake of a dark psychological thriller, and re-appraise it with writer/director Travis Milloy.

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Black Sheep

Mon, 01 Oct 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Dan takes Conrad on a visit to his home country, but the duo is surrounded by flesh-eating bundles of wool! Will they let the Kiwi horror comedy Black Sheep (2006) back into the fold?

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The Haunting (with Sarah Daly)

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Sarah Daly of Hex Studios joins Conrad and Dan as they venture into Hill House to experience The Haunting, which celebrates its 55th anniversary today!

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The Stuff

Mon, 03 Sep 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan find The Stuff (1985) oozing out of the oubliette. Will they get addicted to Larry Cohen's evil dessert, which threatens to enslave America? Or is enough really enough?

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Capricorn One (with Serge Bodnarchuk)

Mon, 20 Aug 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan are joined by Serge Bodnarchuk (writer/director from Cold Crash Pictures) and discover that their maiden voyage to Mars aboard Capricorn One is all a lie! Should they give this 1978 sci-fi conspiracy thriller clearance to launch?

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Pandorum

Mon, 06 Aug 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Conrad and Dan awake from hypersleep to discover they're stuck in a noughties sci-fi flick with Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster. Should 'Pandorum' be released to colonise a virgin planet, or thrown into the cargo hold to be devoured by pale humanoid cannibals?

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Amityville II: The Possession

Mon, 23 Jul 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Conrad fights his way through a swarm of flies to pluck the second Amityville movie out of the oubliette, unwittingly exposing Dan to a tale of possession, pulsating arm bulges and inexplicable incest. Should Damiano Damiani's 1982 sequel be exorcised or excommunicated?

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Razorback

Mon, 09 Jul 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Dan lets Razorback out of the oubliette so that Conrad can experience the fine Australian tradition of being hunted by a maneating pig the size of a Rhino. Should Russell Mulcahy's 1984 revenge-of-nature shocker be released into the wild? Wakey, wakey, hands off snakey!

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Willow

Mon, 25 Jun 2018 23:00:00 GMT

In their first childhood nostalgia special, Conrad and Dan take a look at Willow – a 1988 fantasy adventure directed by Ron 'Solo' Howard. It has everything: robotic baby stand-ins, the first ever CGI morphing effect and Val Kilmer. Is it a classic deserving release from the oubliette or a travesty best viewed through nostalgia goggles?

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Saturn 3

Mon, 11 Jun 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Conrad plucks Saturn 3 out of the oubliette and Dan has to contend with Harvey Keitel with his voice dubbed, Farrah Fawcett turning on a homicidal robot and Kirk Douglas getting into naked fist fights. Neither of them notice they've picked a film with '3' in the title as their third episode. Will they give this sci-fi oddity access to the escape pod?

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Demons

Mon, 28 May 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Dan unleashes a horde of Demons from the oubliette, exposing Conrad to Lamberto Bava's 1985 action horrorfest Dèmoni for the first time. There's hysterical wall patting, seat removing and punks driving around Berlin listening to Go West. There has to be an explanation! Will our heroes infest the world with this demonic plague?

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Society

Mon, 14 May 2018 23:00:00 GMT

Conrad introduces Dan to Society, and it's quite the coming out party. Our antipodean adventurer has to contend with 1989 hairstyles, tea with a splash of urine, and yuppies taking the concept of mergers to a whole new level. Blanchard! Will our heroes allow Brian Yuzna's film to go forth and shunt the world?

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